Reirse, Hiena!
by Lightning Skies
Summary: The Council sends Xander to investigate the strange surges of spiritual power coming from Karakura Town and he manages to land himself in the middle of a war.
1. Spilt Milk and Curious Cats

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers – Post series Buffy, Post Soul Society arc Bleach

Disclaimer – I don't own BtVS or Bleach

Pairing – Grimmjow/Xander

"Dialogue"

-_Thoughts_-

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 1 – Spilt Milk and Curious Cats =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

"What a wonderful selection. Should I choose strawberry milk, something I haven't even thought about drinking since Jesse declared it a girly-kiddie drink in third grade or should I do the stupidly-daring manly thing and drink a caffeine filled coffee-in-a-can type beverage right before trying to sleep?" Xander muttered to himself as he dug around in his pocket for loose change to feed the vending machine across the street from his motel room. "I miss normal food. Everything here has strange flavors. Shrimp flavored rice puffs… gross. What happened to classic American fake cheese flavoring? And good ol' toxic Yellow #5?"

He was pulling his strawberry milk out of the machine when a wave of intense reiatsu swept the area, making the hair on the back of his neck tingle while his skin prickled and tightened, instinctively attempting to pull in on itself. He could feel a powerful group of arrancar nearby. He stood still and silent, straining his senses to feel out what direction the energy was coming from. This was the closest thing to a lead since he'd arrived in Karakura Town. He may not be able to do anything to fight them himself, but hopefully the local Shinigami representative would arrive and he could pump them for information… assuming they survived.

He knew there would be a Shinigami stationed somewhere nearby. There had to be, with the sheer amount of spiritual power that was casually being tossed around lately. It had started about two months ago and was giving Willow and the other spiritually sensitive members of the council stress headaches, even from half the world away. There were meetings upon heated discussions upon arguments upon squabbling like children, and finally it had been decided that something big, if not exactly pre-apocalyptic was going on in Japan, specifically in an innocuous little nowhere city called Karakura Town.

Xander had immediately volunteered to be the one dispatched to check out the situation. Despite her physical prowess, Buffy was about as spiritually sensitive as a rock, he argued, and Willow was, more than likely, going to start hemorrhaging from some sensitive places if she got any closer to the source of the disturbances. One Scooby was too oblivious, one Scooby was too in-tune, the Xander Scooby was just right. He had the ability to sense and see ghosts, courtesy of Caleb's thumb, may it and the rest of him burn in one of the nastier hells for eternity, but wasn't receptive enough that he was likely to be overwhelmed.

Reluctantly, and with many promises of swift vengeance should he get himself into any dangerous situations without calling for backup, his friends had tearily seen him onto a red eye flight and sent him off to the land of the rising sun. He'd been relieved for the reprieve from their constant mothering. A guy gets himself a small case of death and his friends never let him leave the house without a scarf, stake and several charms for safety again. He knew it was partially his fault for not opening up to them more. He'd been dead for over a year and a half before Willow had located his soul in an afterlife for restless spirits. He hesitated to call it a Hell dimension. Sure it wasn't a nice place, but he hadn't been brutally tortured Angel-style like the girls seemed to think he had been. He was ever the protector of the ones he loved though, and he allowed them to believe whatever they wanted. He would kill himself again, painfully and with a rusty spork, before revealing to his dearest friends that he might have preferred to stay dead, had they found a way to give him the choice.

After Buffy's rather un-triumphant return to the mortal coil and the tragedy that was Tara's death, Willow had sworn to every deity she knew, and a few he was pretty sure she'd picked up from fantasy novels, that she would only ever revive someone who was incontrovertibly (her word, not his) and clearly suffering in whatever afterlife they'd landed themselves in. Anyone who was RIP-ing or blissing out in nirvana she would leave alone, no matter how much she was grieving and emotionally lost without them. It was ironic that he had been so upset with Buffy over hiding her post-resurrection angst and here he was doing nearly the same thing. He wasn't lying to his friends, they really had pulled him out of a dimension full of dark spirits, blood and violence, but he had been… happy there- or reasonably content anyways. He was pretty sure his years on the Hellmouth had skewed his perception of what constituted happiness. It wasn't like he was rocking the serious post traumatic stress that Buffy had, being back in the living world wasn't painful or anything, it just wasn't really where he felt like he should be. It wasn't home anymore.

So, he supposed his friends were reasonably justified in their wigging when he had developed a sort of fascination for all things death and dead. Not the vamp kind of dead, but the ghosts, death omens and spiritual residues that created hauntings. He jumped on every chance to research and investigate any case relating to spirits. In their eyes, he was probably getting downright morbidly obsessed in his fixation, which explained the reluctance to send him so far out of their reach and into an unknown situation, despite his enthusiasm for the assignment.

As he concentrated he could feel maybe half a dozen separate hollow spirits in the overwhelming mass of reiatsu. Whatever signal they had been waiting for must have been sent, because the team huddle broke apart as five power signals shot into the city leaving a much stronger sixth in the sky watching over everything. One of the arrancar was coming straight for him. No, it quickly passed him by and continued to another point several blocks away. Xander abandoned his drink and ran towards that distinctive stinging reiatsu individual to Arrancar that seemed to lash out at the very air. He was gone down an alley at the end of the street before the milk even started to empty out of the overturned bottle.

Xander leapt slightly less than gracefully over garden walls and narrowly dodged telephone poles as he raced towards his destination. As he ran, his focus was more on the power swirling around him than on his feet or route. There were a surprising number of Shinigami forces responding to the Arrancar threat. Something important must be happening in Soul Society for them to have such overwhelming representation in the living world. Had they known the Arrancar would attack tonight?

He was little more than a street away when the ambient temperature of the air around him suddenly dropped, drawing his attention back to the world outside his head. Xander shivered slightly as his breath started puffing in white clouds from his mouth. He arrived on the scene to see a young looking, black haired Shinigami woman fighting a football-helmeted arrancar with a creepy smile, while another Shinigami wrestled on the ground with an identical woman in a school uniform. _–Gigai-_ he remembered. The Shinigami needed false bodies to wear when they entered the living world, or they would be unable to interact with the humans.

As he watched from the shadows of yet another garden wall, -_Seriously what was it with the Japanese and walls, what happened to having a nice picket fence_?- the young woman spun her pure white Zanpakuto, trailing a long arc of white ribbon gracefully.

"Whirl, Sode no Shirayuki. First dance, White Moon." The Arrancar didn't even have time to react as she fell into the final stance of her attack behind him, sword arm held out to the side as the ribbon fluttered around her, following the path of the near instant swing of her sword that had gone so quickly it was invisible.

"Wha…" Ice sprung from the pavement in a large circle around her and crackled at the Arrancar's feet, climbing his legs at an astonishing speed. "What… the hell is going on here? You?"

He jumped as high as he could and hung there in the sky, shaking off the ice and glaring down at the Shinigami woman. "Damn it. You little bitch of a Shinigami. Let's see how you fare when I'm up here. You won't be able to do much now with a sword that just freezes the land."

"DIE!" He tore off the bandages covering the left side of his helmet, charging a cero from the eye socket underneath, but the woman didn't react.

"What a shame." She watched as the ice continued climbing, reaching off into the vast eternity of the night sky as it froze solid in one long column of ice, trapping the Arrancar mid cero. "Sode no Shirayuki is not a sword that _only_ freezes the land. Everything within its circle of influence, be it heaven or earth, will fall under its icy grasp."

As she spoke the column fractured and the ice shattered and dissolved, taking the defeated Arrancar with it. With an elegant and well practiced flourish of her wrist the Shinigami woman sheathed her sword and returned to her companion, who was being held down in a painful looking arm-lock by her gigai.

"Ow, ow, ow… OUCH!" The redheaded teen struggled with the gigai in futility as she held him down.

"Oh hush, pyon! If you weren't so stubborn I wouldn't have to use force, pyon!" His only reward for his efforts was a tightened grip and an audible grinding in his wrist, elbow and shoulder as the bones creaked under her assault.

"Shut up with that 'Pyon, pyon'! It's really starting to get on my nerves. Let go of me you moron."

"What are you two doing?"

At the woman's oblivious comment, Xander couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing, stepping out of the shadows dramatically in an entrance that would have made Angel and Spike jealous and making all three go silent and stare at him suspiciously. Xander started clapping, applauding the girl's impressively decisive win. "That was very entertaining. Action, adventure and comedy all in one show."

"Who are you, pyon?"

"You can see us?"

"How long have you been watching us?"

The questions were asked simultaneously and he held up a hand in a gesture of peaceful surrender as he answered. "I'm Xander. Yes, I can see you- and I only saw the bit after she introduced her Zanpakuto."

"Why are you here?" As the Shinigami woman approached him he noticed just how short she really was, it didn't lessen her intimidation factor at all, but it made her kinda cute. In the same way Buffy was cute, from a distance… and only while she was in a good mood.

"Ah, ah." He waggled a finger at her disapprovingly. "It's rude not to introduce yourself before you start making demands of people."

"My apologies, I am Rukia Kuchiki, 5th seat of the 13th Division of Soul Society's Gotei 13." She didn't look very embarrassed or apologetic, introducing herself mechanically.

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, living Shinigami representative for Karakura Town." A living Shinigami? Interesting. Xander made a mental note to ask what the full story behind that one was.

"I'm Chappy, proud Gikongan of Lady Rukia Kuchiki, 5th seat of the 13th Division of Soul Society's Gotei 13, wielder of one of the most beautiful ice and snow type Zanpakuto in Soul Society, the pure white Sode no Shirayuki."

"She just introduced herself, you idiot. She doesn't need you repeating her and bragging about her sword, you stupid fangirl." Ichigo yelled as he wriggled under the gigai, making her strengthen her grip again with a crunching noise. He writhed some more, this time in pain rather than any intent to escape. "Argh! My arm, my arm, you're breaking it! Get off me, you little freak!"

"Your arm is making funny noises, pyon!" Chappy seemed totally oblivious to the suffering she was causing, and Rukia didn't look like she was thinking of stepping in anytime soon.

"O—kay? Whatever. I'm not here to fight anyone. I'm just here investigating the strong spiritual waves you've been putting out. Soul Society's usually pretty good at masking its activities, so you can imagine the concern you've caused when huge waves of Reiatsu so big they can be felt in Europe started flowing out of here. It's freaking people out. Sensitives all over the world are wondering what you've been up to."

"Not that it's any of your business, human, but we're at war. It would be to your benefit to stay out of it." Rukia responded briskly. Xander could swear that she was restraining the urge to sniff disdainfully and stick her nose in the air. She must be from one of Seireitei's noble families, or at least have been born in Soul Society if she had such a bad opinion of humans. But if that were true why was she hanging out with a human Shinigami? Maybe she was just cold to strangers; he'd seen enough defensively aloof people in his life to recognize the signs.

Then the full weight of her words hit him, and stopped his psychoanalyst musings short. "War? With who? The hollows don't have enough organization to form any type of united front."

Her response was interrupted when a crushingly powerful reiatsu descended on them and a mocking voice that sounded achingly familiar to Xander, spoke from the sky. "Oi! What the hell? You killed Dei Roy and just decided to stand around? You'll regret not escaping when you had the chance. Now, I get to kill you all. I am the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow. Remember that as you die on my sword, Shinigamis."

An Arrancar with electric blue hair and eyes glared down on them from twenty feet up with a wild look in his eyes and a cruel smirk as he introduced himself. His short jacket was swept wide open, snapping against the waves of power he exuded, bearing his chest and the large hollow hole bored straight through his abs. His mask fragment took the shape of a section of jaw on his cheek, adorned with sharp looking fangs. There was no way those could ever be confused with human teeth; they were built for cruelty and violence, just like the rest of him.

Rukia and Ichigo were shocked into immobility with his sheer power. The other arrancar had been strong, but this power was incredible. Was this the full strength of the Espada? How could even Soul Society's captains hope to stand against a collected force of ten Espada? It was too early for Aizen to be moving; they were supposed to have more time. It was too soon, they weren't ready. But even with an eternity of preparation… A sense of despair descended on the Shinigami. How were they going to survive this war? How could they hope to win?

Grimmjow had his hands buried casually in his pockets and grinned almost charmingly at them, a vindictively knowing look in his eyes as he took in their reactions. He casually allowed himself to float down to the street, alighting gently and obviously reveling in his awe inspiring entrance.

Xander was also frozen, but he was transfixed with the sight and strength of the man in front of him for his own reasons, separate from the Shinigami's concerns. The sheer power was enough to make the blood in his veins feel like thick sludge, inching along slowly as a heavy weight settled in his chest and gut, making normal breathing near impossible, but what really got to him was the emotional shock. The Arrancar's reiatsu was exponentially larger, tearing at his hair and clothes, but still felt like the same soothing brush against his skin he'd experienced before. The teal hair and strong facial features were physically very different from the adjuchas-class panther menos he had known, but those eyes and that voice… not to mention the attitude, they were exactly the same. If it weren't already obvious, his grandiose introduction would have confirmed it.

"Grimmjow…" The name escaped him breathlessly like a prayer.

"You've heard of me then? Hah, what an honor. You, I'll kill cleanly, human." Childish arrogance colored the Arrancar's words. He hadn't changed at all. He was still exactly the same smug overbearing asshole he'd always been, and Xander couldn't have been happier to see him. Even with the death threats- they were just a part of the Grimmjow experience after all.

"Xander, you know him?" Ichigo questioned.

"Xander?" He was immediately pierced with those icy blue eyes as they bore into him searchingly. The arrancar dropped his guard in surprise and Ichigo immediately pressed his luck and tried to take advantage of the opening. He swung at Grimmjow's unprotected side but his Zanpakuto was casually deflected with nothing but the back of the Espada's hand. He ignored the attacking Shinigami representative, sending him careening down the street and through a brick wall with a flick of his wrist. Grimmjow's attention was focused fully on Xander, eyes never leaving his face.

"Um, Hey. It's been a while. Congrats on the promotion." He stumbled awkwardly through the greeting, feeling his face argue with itself over whether to flush or go pale and settle on some awkward combination. After getting raised from the dead and 'rescued' from Hueco Mundo, he had never really planned on ever seeing Grimmjow again. He had hoped and dreamed and wished, but never really thought it would happen. Now that it had, he had gone into total mental lockdown and didn't know how to react. His thought process was stuck, repeating that name over and over in an endless litany. _-Grimmjow Grimmjow Grimmjow Grimmjow… HE'S HERE!-_

With a quick sonido step Grimmjow vanished and reappeared inches from Xander's face. _–He's taller than me.-_ The human noted idly as those endlessly blue eyes shone with disbelief and examined him closely. The former cat leaned in close to Xander's vulnerable throat and inhaled deeply. The brunette could feel the cold bone teeth of the mask fragment brush against his cheek, making him shiver. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he was human again, and no match for Grimmjow. Hell, he was a natural food group for Grimmjow now, not that he hadn't been when he was a spirit, what with the cannibalistic nature of hollows, but at least then he could have protected himself. Xander's wide eyes met Ichigo's incredulous ones over the spiked teal hair as the teen climbed out of the rubble.

"It is you." He heard murmured in his ear. Grimmjow took one last long breath of his scent and stepped back, meeting his eyes once more, this time with joy instead of shock or doubt. It softened his scowl and smoothed the furrowed brow making the arrancar seem younger and far more innocent than he really was.

"You're alive? Ha-ha! You're alive!" Grimmjow grabbed Xander by the waist and tugged him up off of his feet, smashing their chests together (and knocking the breath out of the brunette) as he spun the human around, laughing happily, if a little maniacally. It was a scene straight out of a romantic comedy, assuming anyone ever wrote one about psychotic, sadistic fiends. "Wait… You're alive!?"

Grimmjow's face fell into horrified confusion as he realized that the Xander he held in his arms was in human form, without any visible mask fragment. Xander opened his mouth to say something straight from his brain, his brain-mouth filter had seriously disengaged by this point, but before he could spit out something incredibly inane and clichéd--

"What a touching reunion, Pyon!" The gigai spoke up from behind them, ruining the moment. She was crying heavily and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. Rukia and Ichigo stood next to her, obviously totally baffled about exactly what was going on. Both had their Zanpakuto in hand, but seemed to have forgotten about them as they drooped out of guard position, leaving the Shinigami woefully unprepared for attack. They practically radiated confusion.

Grimmjow growled at their audience. "'Tch, I don't have time for this. I'll kill you later, Shinigamis."

He casually slung Xander over his shoulder, ignoring the outraged squawk, and took off, flaring his reiatsu in a retreat signal to his Fraccion. As he stepped into his garganta, he turned around and called back at Ichigo. "Make sure you don't forget my name, and pray that you never hear it again. Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. The next time you hear that name will be your last, Shinigamis. Till then don't let anyone else get you."

"Grimmjow, you asshole! Put me down! I'm not letting you kidnap me like this!" Xander kicked and thrashed ineffectually at the Sixth as the garganta closed.

"'Che. I'd like to see you stop me."

Rukia and Ichigo exchanged an astonished look as the garganta snapped shut behind the Arrancar and his hostage as Chappy sniffled and mumbled some nonsense about emotional scenes.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

Yes, I'm starting ANOTHER new fic. I'm not abandoning anything; my muse just has severe ADD. This one probably won't turn out to be as epically huge as most of my stuff wants to be.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)

Author has given no other permissions.

3,529 Words - 6 Pages - 01/10/10


	2. Death or Something Like It

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers – Post series Buffy, Post Soul Society arc Bleach

Disclaimer – I don't own BtVS or Bleach

Pairing – Grimmjow/Xander

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 2 – Death or Something Like It =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

"Grimmjow, you asshole! Put me down! I'm not letting you kidnap me like this!"

"'Che. I'd like to see you stop me."

Hearing the garganta snap shut behind them, Xander sighed as he stopped his exhausted thrashing and let himself hang limply over Grimmjow's shoulder. He obviously wasn't going anywhere without his captor's permission. Even if he could break the Espada's grip on him, he didn't have the ability of opening a garganta back to the living world, not anymore. He was well and truly stuck.

Grimmjow, the utter bastard, had the audacity to chuckle at his defeated sound. "You giving up already?" Of course, the smug jerk couldn't just let it go. No, he just HAD to taunt Xander's total inability to escape.

"Asshole." He huffed in a well thought out and masterfully constructed rebuttal. Willow would be proud. Not of the swearing, that would get a frowny face, but that he even knew what a rebuttal was.

"Hn." …and of course he'd agree to that. Xander really needed some new insults for the bluenette, all the old ones had degraded to being little better than pet names and endearments. He tensed again as he felt several more Arrancar appear. With the awkward positioning, he couldn't really look behind him to see what was going on and had to put his trust in Grimmjow. There was a time when he would have instantly, but things had changed. He was human now and Grimmjow had evolved far past his reach. Even before he had become the sexta Espada, which seemed to be a specially ranked arrancar of some sort, Grimmjow had only ever respected strength, and now that Xander was human, he was powerless and probably rated lower than trash in the panther's eyes.

He jerked in surprise when he heard another familiar voice from his adjuchas days, Shawlong, ask. "Why have you called us back, Grimmjow-sama?"

"I found something interesting in the living world." Xander could just hear the smug, self-satisfied grin on Grimmjow's face. Jackass. Unfortunately, all he could actually see was a length of boring white corridor that didn't even have the decency to be broken up by doorways. Well, that… and Grimmjow's ass, and he would never, ever admit to finding the second choice far more appetizing. Ever. But it was a rather nice view.

"What could you have possibly found that interested you more than a fight?" A voice he identified as Edorado questioned. _-Wow, the gangs all here-_ This was turning into a full-blown reunion.

Wondering who else was behind him, Xander swung himself awkwardly out to the side, grabbing Grimmjow's hip for balance as he twisted to look at the group of Arrancar upside-down. Yup, they were all there; Shawlong, Yylfordt, Nakim, Edorado… The only one of Grimmjow's merry men missing was Dei Roi, who must have been the arrancar Rukia had killed. He should have guessed who it was when he saw that really awkwardly shaped helmet. In his defense, they were a whole lot more human looking now than they had been as adjuchas. Now that he was paying attention, it was easy to tell who was who; their body types hadn't changed much, aside from returning to a human scale and their mask remnants gave them away fairly easily. "Hey, guys. It's been a while. You still hanging out with this idiot?"

Yylfordt's jaw dropped comedically, "Xander-brother? How? We thought you were dead." Ok, so maybe being in human form wasn't a good excuse not to recognize someone. His pride stung a little that Yylfordt had identified him so easily, but was soothed when he remembered that Grimmjow hadn't had a clue who he was until Ichigo had said his name.

"Nope. Live and kicking." In a childish demonstration, he thrust his knee as hard as he could into Grimmjow's gut, narrowly missing his sensitive hollow hole. It obviously had no effect, but still felt damn satisfying. Grimmjow just shifted him slightly and grabbed his legs behind the knee with his other arm effectively limiting his mobility even more. Xander pointedly did not pout as he was foiled with total ease.

"It seems Grimmjow-sama has caught up to you once again." Shawlong noted with some amusement.

"Yeah, yeah. Story of my life." Xander sighed, planting his chin in his hands and propping himself up on Grimmjow's back with his elbows. How did he get himself into these things?

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

"You're the one that sees everything, aren't you. Well, let's see what we can't do about that."

One minute Xander was helping evacuate the potentials from the wine cellar and the next Caleb's hands were wrapped around his head. The carpenter by day, semi-decent demon hunter by night felt a strange pressure against his eye, intensifying into a burning ache and finally a burst of pressure accompanied by a roaring agony. Caleb's. Thumb. Was in. His eye! There was someone screaming, and it sounded close. After an eternity, the pain receded, pushed back by the sheer adrenaline of the situation, and he realized that he was the one screaming.

He heard Buffy yell his name, and saw Spike heading for him out of his one remaining good eye, but then his head was wrenched sharply to the side and he knew nothing more.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

"Angel, when you go back to LA. Will you take Xander's… will you take him with you?" The senior Slayer couldn't resign herself to the fact that one of her very best friends was just a body now, and it was her fault. She still felt like Xander was going to walk back in one day with a goofy smile and terrible excuse for being tardy to the latest war meeting.

"Buffy…"

"We… I can't… Chances are that we aren't going to make it, and he deserves better than what we have here. He should have a proper funeral." If nothing else, she could do this for him. He was a hero; he shouldn't just be buried in her backyard, like a pet. If there was any justice in the world he would be getting a grand funeral with a military style gun salute, a chest covered in medals and a carefully folded flag. She had long since stopped wanting such things for herself but it didn't seem right that Xander would leave the world without any fanfare.

"Buffy, I…"

"Please, Angel. You asked what you could do for me, and this is it. This is what's most important to me, and I'm asking you to make sure it gets done right. Please."

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

He knew he shouldn't be here anymore. He was breaking all kinds of rules, refusing to move on and let the living world and its people take care of themselves, but it just wasn't in him to abandon those he loved. He watched Willow crying herself to sleep, and he would cry with her, feeling more pain for her situation than for his own, and embracing her gently in a hug she never felt.

He saw Dawn fall apart and Buffy loose all of her confidence as a commander. Spike was surprisingly helpful, although he really wasn't suffering the same grief as everyone else. Xander was touched though, when one night Spike and Faith got themselves roaring drunk and poured a cup for the 'dearly departed' (even though Spike eventually drank it), and spent hours swapping embarrassing 'Harris-capade' stories and talking to the dark corners of the basement as if they knew Xander was listening. He watched silently as the Scoobies and potentials struggled on and wished more than anything that he could still be one of them, that he could find some way to let them know that he was alright, that he was still there.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Willow was terrified. The final battle was here, they were going up against an unkillable enemy and their team was already down a member. Xander was the normal one, yes, but he was also the one who endured. He had been there for every showdown and had always come home slightly battered but eventually no worse for wear. He didn't have any super powers, but he'd managed to keep up with a Slayer, a vampire and a witch without faltering. Now he was gone. They were going to have to fight this one without him, and it didn't seem possible. The world was just that much bigger and scarier without Xander there to trivialize and belittle it, breaking the tension with his usual slew of bad jokes.

They were facing off with the First Evil for the first time since Xander had died and she was petrified. This being had taken away the most important thing in her world, and it wasn't done yet. If Caleb's boasting was to be believed, the First hadn't even started. Taking out the Slayer line was just the beginning, the groundwork being laid for a larger plan. Killing Xander wasn't even a footnote. Her world had been thoroughly destroyed with one monumental death that wasn't even going to notable in the long run if they lost. Willow stared at the Buffy doppelganger and wondered at the sheer evil of the creature.

"I spy with my little eye, too many Scoobies." The First laughed, "Oh, this is good. I never thought in my wildest dreams that you would be this stupid."

She smirked at the Scoobies and continued in a sing song voice, "One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn't belong."

She pointed at Willow, making her flinch, "Eenie…"

…then Buffy, who tightened her grip on the scythe and glared, "Meanie…"

…then Spike, laughing when he flipped her off, "Mine-y…"

…and then she pointed straight behind them at what looked like an empty spot in the room. "Moe! Well, hello, Xander. Fancy meeting you here."

Willow made a strangled sobbing noise and Buffy's glare became glacial. Spike shook his head, "She's lying. Don't listen, Red. Slayer."

The First just ignored them, "Your self sacrificing loyalty is going to get you killed one of these days. Oh, wait. It did." Buffy's appearance shifted and it was Xander standing there, a cruel look on his face, marring Willow's memory of the kind hearted, goofy man he had been. The redhead flinched back from the painful mockery of her best friend. "What was your grand plan coming into this, Xander? What is one ghost going to add to the cause that they couldn't handle themselves? You were useless as a human and now you're even worse as a spirit. You can't even play the huggable moral support mascot anymore. They can't see you, they can't touch you… but I can." She made a grabbing motion, which if Xander had been there, would have been likened to Darth Vader's force grab, but he wasn't and the unmade joke hung heavily in the air.

Willow thought she could see a humanoid finger dangling by its throat from the First's hand, but when she blinked the hazy image was gone. Xander wasn't here. He couldn't be. Her heart clenched painfully. The First Evil was getting to her, using the group's grief against them. She couldn't allow herself to believe anything it said.

"You REALLY didn't think this one through, Zeppo-boy." The First transformed back into Buffy and her other hand grabbed at something they couldn't see, holding the invisible object up demonstratively. "Do you know what this is, Xander? It's your soul chain. It used to be the tether that held you in your body." She snapped her wrist to the side sharply, and a faint echoing scream reached Willow's ears, as if she were standing just outside a soundproofed room. The First dropped something small and silvery from her hand and it dissolved before it hit the ground.

"Oh, Goddess. Xander!" Willow cried and would have run forward, but Buffy stopped her.

"It's just a lie Willow. He's not here. It's playing with our emotions."

The First shifted her grip, turning her hand towards them and mimed stroking her fingers gently over the invisible Xander's cheek. "See. They think I'm lying. They believe that you're in a better place, that there's no way you would be stupid enough to stick around for this. They thought they were finally rid of their dead weight. Guess they were wrong."

She made another jerking motion with her hand and dropped another broken link, seeming to enjoy the faint cries. "You came all this way to try and help them. You stayed loyal to them, even after they got you killed. They're standing right there and they're not even trying to save you. How does that make you feel? Even if they did try, there's nothing they could do. It's a pity they can't see you or hear you. They're missing out on the full sensual experience. Do you know how evil spirits are made?" Another link, another echoing scream. "They stick around too long after their curtain call. Their soul chains deteriorate and break off one…" –Snap, scream- "…link…" –Snap, scream- "…at a time."

"Finally, there's only one link left, hanging from the anchor plate imbedded in their chest." She tapped a finger against the air. "And when that dissolves the spirit is overwhelmed by negative emotions and becomes something called a hollow. The spirit will feel nothing but hunger and anger and pain, it spends the rest of eternity trying to fill in its missing heart by consuming other spirits, and when it gains enough strength it will start actively killing humans just to eat their spirits when they die. How would you like that, Xander? To be something worth Slaying? You're almost there. You've dealt with the pain so admirably, but that last link is the most painful. Shall we help it along?"

She thrust a hand forward and made a scooping gesture, tearing something from the very air in front of her. When her hand pulled back the shocked Scoobies could see a metal plate with one link hanging from it in her hand, just as the First had described. She turned and threw it at them, but it dissolved before even reaching halfway across the room. They all jumped back anyways, staring at her as she laughed. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn't exist."

Out of nowhere a gust of wind blew through the room and they all heard an agonized wailing. It didn't sound human, not anymore, but it was still recognizable.

"Xander?" Buffy choked out. "No, he wasn't supposed to be here… He's not… You were lying."

"Not this time." The First smirked at her.

"Buffy? That's not. Tell me that's not Xander. Spike? TELL ME! TELL ME THAT'S NOT HIM!" Willow turned from the distraught Slayer to the paler than normal vampire and back. Neither of them would meet her eyes.

There was a deep groaning noise and a strange portal opened nearby, just long enough for a hazy form to fall through it. As the portal slid shut the howling stopped and through her tears Willow thought she saw a large humanoid demon with a mask staring back at her, and then the portal and monster were gone. Willow's heart shuddered in her chest as she sobbed brokenly, collapsing to her knees and burying her face in her hands. She knew without a doubt that the creature had been Xander, and they had once again stood by and done nothing for him as he suffered.

"Darn. He escaped. That's no fun. I was hoping to make him eat you."

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Xander felt a little fuzzy around the edges. His skin was uncomfortable, it didn't fit quite right, like it was the wrong shape and the feeling was just made worse by his disorientation; everything seemed suddenly bigger than it should be. Things he should have towered over were just his size and the ground was too close. Whenever he looked down he would jerk back, thinking he was falling on his face. He had vague flashes of memory. Nothing definite, he remembered that there was a big bad, an evil priest- or something, doing big bad things. People were dying. He remembered a sharp gnawing pain in his chest while a short blonde woman said his name desperately and saw a redhead who made his heart hurt with love and loyalty looking at him with tears in her eyes, but then everything went dark.

He floated in a cloying blackness for a long time and wasn't aware of anything outside himself but flashes of sand and tall lumbering monsters in a forest of dead trees. He remembered a bottomless hunger that made him turn on and devour those monsters. With a jolt he realized that he had become a thing, something to be destroyed for the good of the world. He was a… hollow. The word came to him slowly, dredged out of the sticky, syrupy sludge that was the residue left by his mostly missing memories.

His first thought when he fully awoke was that he had no idea where he was. Vast stretches of bone white sand stretched in all directions with pathetic little crystallized trees being the only thing to break the monotony. His second thought involved a quick glance down and a realization that he now had paws and a hole straight through his chest. Although, after all he'd been through the paws really didn't bother him all that much, it seemed appropriate that he now had a monstrous form to suit his adjusted temperament. The hole was kinda freaky, but wasn't bleeding and didn't seem to be hurting him any. Twisting and contorting his newly serpentine spine, he came to the conclusion that he was probably a hyena. The most obvious way to tell would be the shape of his head, but no amount of eye crossing was going to get him a better perspective on that, not that he could really cross his eyes with a muzzle anyways. Xander couldn't tell if he was a striped or a spotted hyena because he didn't have the telltale colored fur, instead his body was covered by a hard, but flexible white armor. His weird new exoskeleton had the texture of bone. It was too bad that he was in a desert. He would have liked to locate some water to see his reflection.

He knew he was dead, and that he'd undergone some strange transformation into a demonic creature, the funny thing was that he didn't care. He felt as if something vital to his being was missing, but couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. It nudged at him constantly, a veritable hole in his psyche, but he ignored it. He felt free and unfettered for the first time in his life- it was pathetic that it could only come after his death. Xander decided right then and there that it didn't matter who he had been; he was different now and wasn't at all concerned with ever getting his memories back.

In a burst of speed, Xander exploded into action, racing for all he was worth, testing his new physical boundaries. He brayed loudly, loving the sound of his cackling laughter echoing over the sands. His stride ate away at the horizon as he traveled at a speed that would have been impossible for any living creature to match. It all came so naturally now.

There wasn't much to do in that world of sand, so he found himself wandering, picking a direction at random and running until something made him stop. There was no sun to measure his days, so he allowed his internal clock to guide him and slept when he was tired, waking when he felt rested. Time passed in a haze with nothing to quantify his time. There were other creatures here, among the sands, and they would often attack him, lulled into confidence by his relatively small size. He was both amused and irritated that he proved to be so much smaller than all of the other monsters. Irritated that he was so small, and amused that the others thought that meant he was weak.

He took down all comers indiscriminately and devoured those that refused to surrender peacefully after being defeated. Seeing as he was fighting hollows, none of his opponents ever considered surrender to be an option, so he often found himself gorging on the flesh of the fallen with relish and not a trace of remorse. With each meal, Xander felt himself becoming more powerful and while he craved that feeling of deepening strength, he wondered to what end he was collecting it. He had no one and nothing to fight for, outside of survival, and didn't have much of a long-term purpose.

And so time passed, uncounted among the sands.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Xander almost panicked when he felt jaws closing over the nape of his neck as an unexpected weight impacted his back, almost throwing him to the ground. He hadn't even felt any approaching reiatsu. His instincts kicked in quickly and he dropped and rolled, using his body weight to break the attacker's hold on his spine and separate the two of them in a puff of dusty sand. He quickly scrambled to his feet to assess this new threat. Before him stood the smallest adjuchas level menos he'd seen since waking up in Hueco Mundo. The panther shaped hollow looked like it might even be shorter than him, if he somehow got it to stop trying to kill him long enough to stand quietly next to him for measurement. He couldn't see that happening anytime soon.

They stood there eying each other warily. Now, this was interesting. Xander wasn't about to make the same mistake that all of his now-dead opponents had. Size didn't matter a whit when one was gauging fighting ability and strength. He knew on a personal level how good the feline would have to be to survive out here. The deserts of Hueco Mundo weren't friendly and the cat made an instinctually appealing target, due to his small stature. The hyena felt a sense of comradeship for the panther. He was probably just as underestimated and overlooked as Xander was.

"'Tch. I hate having to attack twice. Stay still so I can kill you." That deep gravelly voice sent shivers down his spine. He was lucky that it was still intact enough to shiver. Panthers and leopards were supposed to have really strong jaws that easily severed the spinal column of whatever animal was their chosen prey, effectively paralyzing if not outright killing it. He was thankful that hyenas had a thick ruff of hair over their necks and shoulders. A living hyena's mane wouldn't have protected it, but Xander's was made out of tough boneskin and nothing short of armor piercing rounds was going to break through.

"No thanks, I'll decline on that one." He hastily ducked a swipe of vicious looking claws, thanking God (inappropriate as that might be) that since becoming a hollow he had become much faster and more agile. "Aren't you even going to introduce yourself before you try to kill me?"

"No." Ah, what a stimulating conversationalist.

"I've got to call you something." He retorted in an exasperated tone. He really wanted to know who the cat was. "If you're not going to tell my your name, I'll just have to make one up for you. How about Miss Kitty Fantastico? I think it suits you." The panther adjuchas roared in his face in anger. "Or not."

"Would you prefer Fuzzy?" He dodged again as the large cat lunged for him, dancing out of the way just in time. He hadn't had this much fun in ages. Faint memories bubbled up of taunting a bulky brunette with funny spiked hair, and baiting a skinny blonde whose shock of white hair was even worse.

"How about Waffles? I think I might remember having a neighbor once who had a pet cat named Waffles, he was a mean little fucker, scratched anyone who came too close. You kinda remind me of him." The cat was circling him like a shark scenting blood in the water, waiting less than patiently for him to display any weakness. It's long, whip-like armored tail lashed back and forth in agitation.

"Spot? No, that's more of a dog's name…" With his only warning being a subtle flexing of muscle, Xander jumped over the cat as it tried to pounce on him again. His paws sent up a spray of sand as he whirled quickly to keep his back and neck away from the violent feline. He'd much rather face his impending death head on than be blindsided again. He was just a masochist like that.

"I know! You're all white so you'd totally be a Snowball. That's your name right? Oomph!" Xander cursed internally as he felt the swiping paw connect and knock him sprawling into the sand. The cat immediately took advantage of his mistake and leapt onto him, pinning him on his back with his vulnerable stomach and throat uncomfortably exposed. He looked up nervously, "Good kitty. Please don't hurt me."

"My name," The panther leaned in, breaking all laws of personal space to show Xander a really, really up close look at his sharp teeth. "Is Grimmjow."

"My, what large teeth you have, Grimmjow." The hyena said admiringly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Xander."

The panther stared down at him in confusion for a moment; trying to judge his sincerity, unsure what to make of his atypical response and Xander took the opportunity to escape. He kicked up at the cat's stomach with his rear paws, feeling and hearing his blunted nails scraping over the feline's white armored stomach. Luckily, he managed to find purchase before he lost the element of surprise and threw the cat off of him with all of his strength, sending the lighter adjuchas flying an impressive distance. He dashed away at top speed in the opposite direction before the cat even hit the ground. The panther may be fun to taunt, but he was also strong and determinedly homicidal, so Xander fell back on his favorite philosophy. Those who run away, live to fight another day.

"And that is why I'm not a cat person." He muttered to himself. "Though at least they don't drool."

He cackled madly as he ran, "Grimmjow, huh?" He was already looking forward to their next showdown.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

Originally, the flashback was just going to be one chapter, covering everything from his death to his resurrection, but I just kept adding stuff and it grew and grew to over 7800 words, before I felt like I was even close to done, so I divided it in half. This is a good thing for you, because it means that the next chapter is already written, so no long hiatus between chapters. I'm just going to wait a week or so to post it.

Unfortunately, if you wanted to know what was going on with the kidnapping, you'll just have to wait. I promise the flashbacks are worth it though. Thank WrongButton if you liked reading the last section. I was going to just end the chapter with Xander waking up as a hollow, but she demanded more Grimmy in this chapter, so I moved changed the first scene of chapter 3 to be the last scene of chapter 2.

This chapter was exactly 4,440 words long (not including disclaimers and the AN) when I was done and I couldn't resist adding 4 more words. 'Nice to meet you.' Fits well, don't you think. I probably should have had it in there since the beginning.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)

Author has given no other permissions.

4,444 Words - 9 Pages - 01/18/10


	3. Living Life in the Afterlife

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers – Post series Buffy, Post Soul Society arc Bleach

Disclaimer – I don't own BtVS or Bleach

Pairing – Grimmjow/Xander

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 3 – Living Life in the Afterlife =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Grimmjow was beyond pissed about his treatment at Xander's hands- paws, whatever. He had taken to stalking the hyena all over the desert. Xander was enjoying every minute of it. He had been deadly bored with the monotony of his afterlife and had discovered that the thrill of the chase was just as exciting from the position of prey as it was as the predator. It was a grand cat and hyena-mouse game, with all of Hueco Mundo as their playground. Unfortunately for this particular cat's sanity, he may have been the more powerful of the two but his mouse counterpart was marginally faster and more agile and when combined with a deviously creative mind- Xander managed to escape every time Grimmjow thought he finally had him cornered. It infuriated the feline to no end. He was the stronger being, how did one idiotic hollow keep evading him at every turn.

"Dammit! Why the fuck do you keep running, you pathetic coward? Quit fucking around. Why won't you just fight seriously and die already?" He demanded one day, pausing briefly between his ineffectual attacks. Both animals were panting and streaked with dusty sand.

"It speaks!?" The hyena's jaw dropped in an exaggerated shock. Grimmjow snarled at the other's dramatics. "Touchy, touchy. Fine. Straight answers then. I won't fight you head on because then one of us would be dead, and the game would end."

"Game?" Grimmjow cocked his head to the side in an adorable gesture of rapt attention, watching him carefully. Of course, Xander was probably the only one in the universe who would ever think he was cute. At least the cat had stopped his constant and enthusiastic crusade to rip out his throat.

"Well, yeah." Xander settled on his haunches to look at the panther seriously. "From what I've seen, it looks like hollows like us are pretty much immortal unless something kills us. Fighting constantly for survival and to get stronger is all well and good, but it's really goddamn boring after a while. Most of the hollows I've met can't fight worth a damn and don't have much going for them other than muscle mass and size. It's like beating up on a gillian, too pathetically easy. You're the first hollow I've met that interests me. It'd suck if I had to kill you, or you managed to kill me. The fight would be amazing, I'm sure the damage we could do to each other and the scenery would be a scene from legends, but then it'd be over and I'd be either dead or right back where I started. Bored. –and I really, really hate being bored."

"So," He continued, abandoning all attempts at seriousness for his usual chipper tone. "I taunt you and evade you and generally piss you off, then I disappear and we get to play again later. You could say that I was searching for meaning in my life, and I found you." Xander shamelessly took advantage of their unspoken truce and kicked sand into Grimmjow's shocked face, running for it as soon as the panther recoiled and swiped at his stinging eyes with a paw.

The cat adjuchas roared loudly in anger, pawing at his face. When he finally cleared his eyes, he glared in the direction of the retreating hyena's reiatsu. "You want to play? All right, let's play. Last man standing wins, loser gets massacred. Simple as that. You're gonna die hyena and I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart."

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

When Xander next saw Grimmjow, the irritable feline was traveling with a whole group of other adjuchas. Although, it was more like the cat was stalking around the desert with his usual angry stride and he had collected a motley band of lethal ducklings that followed him. They hyena nonchalantly strolled up behind the group, hiding his reiatsu and walking quietly so his footsteps were muffled by the others' noises. After a few hours or so, he grew bored with his lurking and casually shouldered his way between the larger beings to fall into stride with the cat. "I see you finally made some friends, Grimmjow. How much are you paying them to be seen with you?"

"Xander." The panther whirled on him with a growl. The hyena cheekily waved a paw at him and the growl deepened noticeably.

"Don't talk about Grimmjow-brother that way." The bulky ox looking one protested.

A tall skinny hollow with long Freddy Kreuger fingers stepped forward. "We serve Grimmjow-sama willingly. He is our key to the path of greatness."

"You have a fanclub?" Xander laughed. "Oh, that's priceless, Grimmjow-_sama_." He was impressed with how much sarcasm he managed to fit in the title. "Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your devoted followers?"

"No."

"Fine, I'll do it myself." Xander grinned cockily at Grimmjow, "I'm Xander. I'm the one hollow in all of Hueco Mundo that Grimmjow has ever attacked and not defeated. I'm the one who got away… how many times now, Grimmy? I lost track of the score."

"Too many." Grimmjow growled low in his chest, stalking forward with his teeth bared.

"Aw, don't be like that. You're always so confrontational, what happened to giving a friend you haven't seen in a while a nice hug and a "How are you?" Your manners are terrible Grimm." He yelped and dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the jaws that snapped shut right behind him. He loved the fact that he could rile Grimmjow up so easily. "That wasn't very nice."

"I'm not nice." Grimmjow spit out a bit of sand and turned to glare at him, eyes narrowed and glinting dangerously with his murderous intent, "Now, stop hopping around for once so I can kill you."

"As always, I'm thinking not." Xander smiled cheerily at him. "Where is the satisfaction in that? I'd be robbing you of a sense of accomplishment if I just LET you kill me. I've always felt that you should have to work for anything worth having."

As was becoming typical for their confrontations, Xander managed a slippery escape mid fight and left Grimmjow unsatisfied and cursing up a storm. He glared at his new comrades, just daring them to say ANYTHING about his pathetic showing against the hyena. They were wisely quiet that day, and kept their silence over the course of a long string of similar incidents.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Grimmjow watched Xander incredulously. When he'd felt the familiar reiatsu he had eagerly tracked it, hoping to finally catch the hyena and force him into a fight. He wasn't expecting the scene he came across. Xander was running around and playing with a small green haired child. They were wrestling and the hyena was pretending to let the brat win. Two humanoid hollows, a skinny one with horns and a loincloth and a fat one with bright yellow clothes looked on briefly, before giving in to temptation and diving into the pile, turning it into a free for all. One of them even yelled, 'Banzai!' as he jumped on the kid and started tickling her. Eventually, the roiling mass of limbs was broken apart when a huge worm shaped hollow belly flopped on top of it and Xander finally noticed him watching from his perch on a nearby dune. The hyena stared at him for a moment, laughter still shining in his eyes and then to Grimmjow's shock he gestured the panther over. Grimmjow felt a mild irritation that the hyena had absolutely no fear of him, but mostly he was curious.

And so he was introduced to the snot nosed brat, Nel Tu, her moronic not-actually-brothers Dondochakka and Pesche and the beloved family pet Bawabawa. He had to resist the urge to shred them all when they botched their introduction and ended up bickering about whether they were the 'The Three Brothers', 'The Great Desert Brothers' or 'The Mysterious Neldonpe'. A warning look from Xander had him sheathing his flexing claws but didn't stop him from fantasizing about the 'Nothing but Bloody Chunks Brothers.'

Several hours of enforced participation in pointless game playing later, Grimmjow flopped into the sand and watched the others. He didn't know where the idiot had found her, but the fact remained that Xander appeared to have stumbled on and sort-of adopted the one hollow in all of Hueco Mundo that was even more pathetically innocent and human than the hyena was. The short green haired brat was all big eyes and incessant questions. He really didn't know why he hadn't killed her and her goddamn annoying brothers yet; aside from the fact that he knew it would upset Xander.

What really got him is that he WANTED to upset Xander. Maybe then he would break out of his jokester façade and finally give Grimmjow a decent fight. It infuriated him that the hyena was so obviously capable of defending himself properly and his rising reiatsu proved that he was out there killing and eating when he wasn't with the panther, but Grimmjow had never seen him fight seriously. With him, Xander was always so slippery and flippant, never attacking him head on or defending in a straightforward manner. He had never wanted to battle someone so much in his life; the teasing and anticipation just made it that much worse. He didn't even care who won at this point; he would die satisfied if he could just see Xander's eyes lit up with murderous intent. Their battle would be a thing of beauty when it finally happened. They were too evenly matched for it to be anything but an epic brawl. Xander had the advantage in speed and weight, but Grimmjow was stronger and more willing to be vicious.

But he wouldn't use the kid for that. She was weak and injured. She claimed to be an arrancar, but had less power than even Dei Roi, who was still a low level adjuchas. He had too much pride to need to use such a pathetic creature for anything. As he watched the brat drag Xander into another round of endless tag, he wondered what had caused her fractured mask. Whoever it was might actually be worth killing.

Xander caught him staring and smiled at him sweetly before turning to the kid. "Hey, Nel-chan. Com'ere, I've got a secret to tell you." Xander made a big show of whispering in her ear while meeting Grimmjow's gaze with amused eyes. The panther just watched in trepidation, feeling his muscles tense in anticipation. That smile and the look in the hyena's eyes never boded well for him. The feeling got worse when the brat turned to stare at him in amazement.

"Weally?" Nel beamed up at Xander.

"Really. Why don't you go ask him about it?" Xander nudged the short girl towards Grimmjow gently with his muzzle.

"Grimm-kitty! Is it true that you's purrs when you's gots a tummy wub?" Grimmjow barely had time to brace himself for the small green missile that launched itself at him, knocking him off of his feet and rolling them both through the sand. By the time he'd evaded her sticky hands, (they lived in a desert for crying out loud what could she possibly have gotten into that was sticky?) and convinced her with snapping teeth and growls that 'Grim-kitty' did not like tummy wubs, the hyena shaped adjuchas was nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit!" Grimmjow howled as loud as he could, echoing in the empty silence of the dead desert sands. "Stop running away! XANDERRRR!"

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Grimmjow was bored. If something didn't happen soon he was going to turn on his 'followers' and slaughter them, just for a little variety. Xander hadn't shown himself in days and Grimmjow felt a creeping sense of boredom and discontent that grew the longer he went without the annoying menos there to amuse or infuriate him. He was drawn from his thoughts as he felt a huge surge of unusual power. It definitely wasn't a hollow of any kind. He stopped and looked in the direction of the wave, eyes narrowing as he felt Xander's distinctive signature in close proximity to the source. Without so much as a word to Shawlong or the others, he changed course and streaked over the dunes towards that power signature he knew as well as his own.

Grimmjow wasn't an introspective creature by nature, far preferring a life of violent actions and boastful, angry words that spoke louder than any of the emotions he would deny he felt. If he stopped to think about his reason for the excitement curling in his gut he would have been appalled to discover that he had been worried about the hyena adjuchas. It had been much longer than he'd become accustomed to between their meetings and deep in his thoughts a small voice had been telling him that something had happened to the annoying idiot. Hueco Mundo was a cruel place and there were any number of harsh fates that befell its denizens, and Xander was the oblivious type that instigated and stumbled on trouble at all times of the day. He was too… innocent for an existence in Hueco Mundo. Xander was too friendly and kind to be a hollow and Grimmjow constantly wondered how he'd managed to survive, it was even more inconceivable that he could have defeated and consumed enough menos to evolve to the level of Adjuchas in the first place.

Thinking back Grimmjow couldn't think of a single time he'd seen the hyena kill something, and it was difficult to picture. Xander always came across as a pacifist, never starting conflicts and preferring to escape rather than see a fight through to the bitter end. As reluctant as Grimmjow was to make connections with others, Xander had become a constant in his life. He was the only hollow to ever match Grimmjow, he had never seriously feared the panther's strength or temper, teasing him mercilessly no matter his mood. Somehow, at some point, Xander had become important to Grimmjow and his threats and promises to kill the hyena were just an excuse to see him, a formality both knew he would never follow through with. The hyena had even managed to manipulate him into extending amnesty of sorts over the green brat and her brothers. They would die sooner or later, the weak never lasted long in Hueco Mundo, but they wouldn't die at his hand and that was more consideration than Grimmjow had ever given anyone else.

As he ran, the sound of thunder rolled across the desert, echoing oddly on the flat landscape. Ahead of him, Grimmjow could see dark purple clouds roiling in the sky and he almost stopped in his tracks to stare. Hueco Mundo didn't have weather. Ever. There wasn't enough water in the entire dimension to fuel those clouds. Something was wrong. Something was drastically wrong, and Xander was right in the middle of it. Typical. Grimmjow pushed his limits and ran faster than he ever had before, fueled by desperation to get there- to face the unknown threat. He always felt useless as a mere spectator, watching events from a distance, unable to alter their outcome and he loathed feeling useless.

When he finally crested the last white drift that lay between him and his target, Grimmjow paused, taking in the scene. Xander was nowhere in sight, his reiatsu had vanished totally and the ominous clouds were slowly breaking up. The sand was heavily disturbed and had even been burned down to shimmering glass in some places. Following his nose, Grimmjow ignored the harsh scent of ozone and scorched sand, searching out Xander's more elusive scent. There were traces of it all over the place, but what really disturbed Grimmjow was the blood.

In all their fights, Grimmjow had never managed to pierce Xander's hierro. He had never made the hyena bleed. Not once. Something small and hard froze into jagged shards inside him as he found more and more spots of blood splashed around. There was no way to tell just how much blood had been spilt, the dry sands had absorbed the moisture instantly, but the sheer number of rusty red patches didn't tell a pleasant story. Near the far edge of the disturbed area Grimmjow stopped and stared hard at the ground.

Something had lain here, bleeding heavily enough to overwhelm the absorption of the sand and create a decent sized pool of blood. Something perfectly sized and shaped to be a hyena. Xander's distinctive smell was nearly overwhelming and there were no tracks leading away from the spot.

Grimmjow put his paw down gently on the red tinged sand, imagining he could feel some remnants of body heat from the form that had lain here. He stared sightlessly down at his white forepaw, starkly contrasted against the stolen dark color of the sand. With a harsh growl he thrust his paws down into the sand. It wasn't supposed to be that color. That was Xander's color and the desert had no right to take it away from Grimmjow. He dug furiously, trying to reclaim what was his, but all too soon he ran out of red sand and the bottom of his hole was once again that pure untainted white. The pieces clicked and he understood with perfect clarity. Xander was gone. The thought hit him hard and sent him reeling. Once he allowed himself to put words to his conclusion, even mentally, he couldn't take it back. Innocence and ignorance were so easily shattered and impossible to heal.

Grimmjow threw back his head and howled his pain and anger to the sky. He had been too slow to get there in time, too weak to stop that strange power from taking Xander away. He already missed the stupid jokes and easy tones of the hyena and hated himself for not just claiming the idiot as his own. Damn the fighting. He should have just bitten the hyena and taken a part of him. Xander would never have been able to evolve any farther, but he would have belonged to Grimmjow, and then the panther wouldn't feel this gnawing pain inside, worse than the constant emptiness of his hollow hole.

Grimmjow would never be too weak or too slow again. He swore to himself and that bloody patch of sand. He would destroy all comers and ascend to Vasto Lorde status, no one would ever dare to take anything from him. And if he EVER found the person who wielded that power, he would destroy whoever it was, slowly and painfully, until they begged to be allowed to die, and they would discover that he wasn't capable of being merciful. They would be dragged inch-by-inch into hell, cursing the name Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

Awwww. Poor Grimmy.

I don't know about you, but I've never really thought that Willow's resurrection spell would be a neat and clean process. Especially, if a certain Xander hollow was being dragged kicking and screaming back into the living world. Here's to hoping that Xander never introduces Grimmy to Willow, that wouldn't end well.

Yay, Nel. There isn't really a set timeline for events in Hueco Mundo, so I think it's perfectly reasonable that Nnoitra and Szayel are ousting Neliel while Grimmy is still tooling around in the desert.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)

Author has given no other permissions.

3,146 Words - 6 Pages - 01/10/10


	4. Ass First and UpsideDown

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers/Disclaimer/Pairing – See first chapter  
"Dialogue"  
-_Thoughts_-

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 4 - Ass First and Upside-Down =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Xander was admiring the gothic numeral tattoo on Grimmjow's lower back, mentally tracing it with his fingers and wondering if the Arrancar's skin felt as smooth as it looked, when he felt Grimmjow's shoulder tense and the arm wrapped around his legs tightened reflexively. A moment later he felt another new reiatsu appear, it was a stranger this time, someone he'd never met in his alternate life as an adjuchas. He peeked through Grimmjow's hollow hole and saw a dark skinned man in the white outfit that he was coming to realize was probably the required dress code of Hueco Mundo. The newcomer had long cornrows tipped with beads, a full-on Geordi La Forge visor and a weird decorative orange rope wrapped a few times around his neck. He was making a horrible expression like he had sucked on a lemon after getting a paper-cut on his tongue and was trying to be stoic about it. It was disgusted, pained, angry and nonchalant all at the same time.

Yllfordt, Nakim, Shawlong and Edorado all hit the wall and bowed their heads at his appearance, so he must have been a bigwig of some sort. "So, you have returned, Grimmjow." Xander shivered a little at his voice, it was full of tightly controlled hatred and impersonal, cold violence. He immediately decided that he didn't like the man and would probably quickly hate him once he spent any amount of time in his presence.

"Tousen. What the hell do you want?" He could hear the tension in Grimmjow's voice. The bluenette obviously loathed the man, but it seemed that there was some reason he was forced to be at least slightly civil about it.

"What... You are asking me 'what' I want? Do you really not know 'what'? I think you do know." Oh yeah. Xander hated him already. He was condescending and obviously reveled in the fact that Grimmjow wasn't in a position to tear his head off. This cowardly jerk-off was the type that taunted wild animals in the zoo because he thought he was better than them and they couldn't fight back. And he REALLY liked to hear himself talk. "Arbitrarily attacking the human world, mobilizing five arrancar without permission, allowing one of Aizen-sama's soliders to die, taking an unauthorized captive and finally… it was all against orders. Each of your actions is a serious offence. Aizen-sama is not pleased, Grimmjow. Let's go. He has called for you."

Apparently, tall, dark and full of himself had a protector who held Grimmjow's leash. Aizen. The way he spoke about the man told Xander plenty about the state of affairs in Hueco Mundo. Tousen here was a boot-licking rule follower and Grimmjow was the rebellious outcast he loved to tattle on. He could practically hear Grimmjow's teeth grinding in frustration. Without really thinking about it, he ran a hand down Grimmjow's back giving his silent support and trying to sooth the emotional strain the uptight idiot was causing.

"Hmph. Fine." Grimmjow's arm squeezed his legs in what Xander assumed was thanks as they followed grumpy down the unremarkable hallway. He looked up to see the others following them and Yllfordt tried to smile comfortingly at him. The fact that he even tried made Xander nervous. What kind of man was Aizen that he was able to organize and scare the rabble that was the population of Hueco Mundo.

-/-/-/-\-\-\

Of all the things his overactive imagination had supplied him with, Xander really wasn't expecting the greeting they got from the supposedly pissed and all-powerful leader of the arrancar. It was almost warm and friendly, "Welcome home, Grimmjow. Who is your guest?"

Xander froze for a moment, before he started to struggle against the Sexta's hold again. "Dammit, Grimmjow put me down."

"Why?" For the first time since they'd left the living world those brilliant blue eyes turned to meet his and he stopped short when he saw the glimmer of fear in their depths. This Aizen guy was dangerous, no matter what his general attitude seemed to be, especially if he had Grimmjow scared. Nothing scared the cocky bastard.

That was all the more reason to get down. There was no way he was facing this guy any way but on his own two feet. He rolled his eyes at Grimmjow, pointedly reminding him that Xander wasn't the type to run from danger. "Because I don't happen to like meeting powerful people ass first and upside-down. It doesn't exactly give a great first impression."

"'Che." Grimmjow dumped him unceremoniously on his ass.

"I see you're just as gentle as ever." Xander took the chance to look around, now that he was facing the proper direction. Aizen's physical appearance matched his softly spoken tone. He was unremarkable and peaceful looking, it reminded him of Mayor Wilkins. It just wasn't right that there were two murdering Mr. Rodgers wannabes in the world. Having met one was freaky enough. The only thing that indicated the lie behind the man's attitude and aura was the fact that he was sitting on an enormous stone throne a good hundred and fifty feet up in the air. If that didn't just scream megalomaniac, Xander didn't know what would. The intimidation factor wasn't helped by the fact that they were in the middle of a room surrounded by a dozen or so really strong arrancar.

Grimmjow snorted, pulling him out of his 'I'm so dead' thoughts. "And you're just as graceful."

"Asshole." He grabbed the front edge of Grimmjow's short jacket and dragged himself to his feet, nearly unbalancing the bluenett and forcing him to shift his stance to compensate. He wavered unsteadily on his feet as all of the blood in his head rushed back to where it was supposed to be and grabbed the back of the jacket to keep himself upright, forcing the arrancar to shove his hands in his pockets and hunch his shoulders forward or have the garment pulled off of him entirely. "Urgh. I think your sonido disagrees with my lunch."

"'Che, lose the gigai and it won't be a problem." The cat Espada was starting to relax, despite himself, with Xander's attempt to distract him from the trouble he'd landed himself in for disobeying orders. Their banter was just too familiar. He found it comforting, in an odd way.

Tousen stepped forward with an irritated expression and made to say something, but Aizen silenced him with a directed flare of power, as he watched the interaction curiously. His Sexta Espada was acting out of character and the ex-shinigami was interested in this unforeseen personality change, he was after all a master manipulator and he didn't like it when his puppets made unexpected moves. Xander ignored Tousen, but held up a hand to Aizen in a 'I'll be with you in a minute' gesture. He stared at Grimmjow. "You're an idiot, an attractive idiot but an idiot none-the-less. You ever hear the phrase what you see is what you get?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" The Sexta cocked his head to the side in that adorable gesture of confusion Xander loved causing.

"I'll use small words for you. If it looks like a human, walks like a human, talks like a human, has crap reiatsu, can't sonido, has no hierro and is alive like a human, chances are it's probably a human."

Grimmjow laughed derisively in his face. "You? Human?"

"It's not that funny." Xander crossed his arms and pouted petulantly.

"So... what? One day life as an adjuchas became too boring for you and you decided to return to the living world for a change of scenery?"

"Well, that's not exactly how it happened, but yeah. Human now. See Exhibit A." He waved a hand at himself in a 'ta-da!' motion.

Grimmjow circled him warily, comprehension flooding his expression. "You're not just suppressing it are you?"

"Nope." Xander shook his head and tapped a finger on his chest. "And this is me, not a gigai."

Those bright blue eyes narrowed in rage, as the cat errupted. Xander could feel hot breath blasting him in the face as Grimmjow loomed in close and shouted. "What the hell happened to you? How the fuck could you let this happen? Your strength was matched with mine, and now you've got less reiatsu than a fucking plus soul. It's pathetic. Who the fuck am I supposed to fight now?"

He took a step back from the volatile bluenette, giving himself room to cross his arms defensively and glared back. "What are you acting so pissy for anyways? There are plenty of hollows to fight, and with your personality, I can't possibly be the only one in Hueco Mundo willing to kick your ass. With the big welcome home kidnapping it's almost like you missed me or something."

"'Che" Grimmjow looked away, feigning distain but Xander saw the embarrassment and hurt buried in his body language. It was funny how even with a human shaped body, Grimmjow's shoulders tensed and he couldn't meet Xander's eyes when there was something he was hiding or refusing to admit to.

"Oh my god. You did! You missed me and have probably been all cranky kitty since I left. Aw. That's so sweet. Grimmy-kins lurves me." He clapped his hands and giggled in an exaggerated and very air-headed manner. The room went dead quiet as the assembled arrancar all froze and watched the pair in anticipation, no one ever spoke to Grimmjow that way.

"Shut up!" The very embarrassed Sexta did what he did best and reacted violently, lashing out at Xander in the same way he always had when the hyena irritated him too much.

But the hyena had changed into a man and wasn't agile or strong enough to defend himself anymore. He punched the fragile human square in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall in a spray of blood and plaster. A horrified look passed over the Espada's face and he stared at his outstretched fist like it had betrayed him. How could he have forgotten so quickly? Xander wasn't the same as he'd always been and Grimmjow couldn't treat him that way anymore, not unless he really wanted to finally kill him. His eyes moved from his fist to the crumbled wall and splashes of blood, that was if he hadn't just killed him. A familiar cold lump formed in his chest at the thought.

Nnoitra laughed, enjoying Grimmjow's horrified expression. "Hah, looks like you killed your little friend. Too bad, he was kinda pretty, I wouldn't have minded playing with him for a bit."

"It is for the best. Human trash should not be allowed to talk to any of the Espada so familiarly." Ulquiorra spoke quietly, scorn laced through his mostly toneless voice.

Szayel approached the crumbled wall curiously and turned to the throne, "Aizen-sama, I request permission to examine the body. I am curious about his claims of being a former hollow. Even if he was lying, I am always in need of raw materials for my other projects."

To everyone's surprise the human's weak flicker of reiatsu didn't die down and disappear but instead stabilized. The rubble shifted and Xander dragged his broken body slowly out of the destroyed wall. Szayel adjusted his glasses to hide his interest as he stepped back to allow the human room enough to stumble forward and fall to his knees.

"Shit. Ow. Which part of no hierro did you not understand?" Xander coughed hard, covering his mouth with one hand, the other arm hanging uselessly at his side. Blood sprayed out from between his fingers, soaking his hand and splashing the floor liberally. "I think you splintered a rib into my lungs you total ass. I'm going to be coughing up blood for a week trying to clear that shit out of my system." He cleared his throat harshly and spit blood all over the floor, gagging slightly. He looked around briefly, holding his hand out away from his body in disgust before deciding that Szayel's pristine hakama was the perfect place to wipe the blood off. "Guh. I've never liked the taste of my own blood."

He turned to poke at his useless arm, grimacing as he determined the extent of his injury. As he explored, bones shifted and slotted back into place with small crunching and grinding noises as his skin cleared of scrapes and bruises. Noticing the silence, he looked up to meet the stares being directed at him as he healed right before their eyes. "What? Said I was human, never said I was a regular human. I mean Christ; I was a goddamn adjuchas level hollow, what part of being raised from the dead and stuffed into my body again, a good year and a half after I died, could possibly be normal?"

Szayel was drawn out of his mournful contemplation of his ruined pants at that comment and started circling the 'human', examining him as closely as possible, his glasses glinting in the light. He poked Xander in the side, groping his ribs and earning himself an indignant look. "Impossible. No human could have withstood that blow. Especially with the dismal amount of reiatsu you seem to possess."

Xander smacked his hand away and climbed unsteadily to his feet, wiping at his clothes ineffectually for a moment before realizing he was just spreading the bloody plaster dust paste around. "Yeah, here's the thing. I can't seem to die. You could probably throw a cero at me and my evaporated bits would find a way to reassemble. It's fucking annoying."

He glared at Grimmjow, refusing to soften at the apologetic look on the feline's face. "What? You think I had a party when I realized all my power had been stripped from me? I've tried everything. Poisons, wounds, starvation, asphyxiation, every form of suicide I could manage and its all healed. I'm immortal and fucking weak." Ok, so maybe he had overstated his willingness to readjust to the living world, just a tad. What Buffy and Willow didn't know wouldn't emotionally tear their hearts out and stomp on them, and if they didn't know they couldn't stop him from trying to 'fix' it.

Grimmjow had a bewildered and hurt expression on his face, but it rapidly turned to anger again but when he opened his mouth to retort-

"Enough!" Tousen shouted stepping between Grimmjow and Xander, breaking up their personal moment and their glaring contest. His hand clenched reflexively around the sheath of his zanpakuto, it was clear that he was positively itching to draw it.

"It's all right, Kaname." Aizen smiled benignly down on them from his perch, making Xander shiver a bit. That unnatural benevolence was creepy and treacherous. He much preferred people who were honest about wanting to kill you. "I'm not angry."

"But, Aizen-sama.." _-What a self-righteous toe-rag-_ Xander thought angrily as Tousen appealed to his beloved master. The bastard obviously considered himself to be some trumped up disciplinary officer and attitude police.

"I take Grimmjow's actions to be an overzealous display of loyalty and a self-motivated desire to serve." Aizen's smile took on a sharp edge as his brown eyes glinted with malignant purpose for a split second, before warming again. "Isn't that right, Grimmjow?"

"... Yeah, that's right" The sentiment was pulled unwillingly from the Sexta, but he couldn't afford to anger Aizen, not when it seemed he might be let off lightly for his actions. The power games the ex-captain played were far above his level, but even he knew when the pretense of servitude was needed. He went to turn away when he found his jacket grabbed by a furious ex-shinigami, whose blind eyes glared balefully at him, "What are you doing, Tousen?"

"Aizen-sama. Allow me to execute this man!" He pulled Grimmjow forward towards the throne, dragging him by his collar, nearly making him loose his balance at the awkward position. Xander wanted to step in, but knew that there were hierarchical undertones here that he didn't understand, and Grimmjow could more than take care of himself.

"Kaname..." Aizen spoke placatingly, but didn't seem all that inclined to actually stop his subordinate from doing anything.

"This is personal grudge... You just don't like me. Is that any way for a proper commanding officer to act." Grimmjow mocked. He and the former 9th division captain had hated each other immediately. Their personalities and philosophies, insomuch as Grimmjow bothered to have a philosophy of life, were in direct opposition. It was inevitable that they'd clash often and loudly. It was a pity the dark skinned man was under the protection of Aizen or the feline would have sharpened his claws on him a long time ago.

"I believe anyone who disrupts the peace should pay. That is all." Tousen throttled the hilt of his zanpakuto in anger.

"Whose peace? The group's?" The Sexta prodded, goading the angry man.

The blind man's lips thinned into a tense, rigid line, "Aizen-sama's."

"Ha! Fine. Hide behind your great cause." Grimmjow taunted, making it clear just how much he believed the excuse.

"Exactly. It is a great cause. Your raid lacked purpose. Killing without purpose or a just cause begets nothing but slaughter." Tousen's zanpakuto slid out of it's sheath with a click and a hiss of metal. Grimmjow watched him warily, wondering how far the man would go to prove his point. Xander shifted nervously, he didn't like where this was headed. "However, that same slaughter in the name of a righteous cause **is Justice!**"

With a smooth movement, Tousen unsheathed his sword fully and severed the unprepared Sexta's arm off, just below the shoulder. The angle of attack sent the arm arcing through the air, trailing a ribbon of blood, towards Xander, who grabbed it and pulled it protectively to his chest, glaring at the two-faced bastard as Grimmjow screamed in pain. Xander was sure in that moment that he had never hated anyone more than he loathed this man, his feelings for Angelus, Glorificus and the First paled in comparison.

His eyes widened in horror when, without even looking at him, Tousen fired a kido spell unerringly toward him. "Hado 54, Haien." He reflexively shut his eyes and turned away from the blast, attempting to shield Grimmjow's arm. The spell may or may not kill him, but the arm could only be reattached and healed if it wasn't vaporized. He heard a scream an instant before his right side disappeared in a blaze of pain. He clutched the severed limb with his left arm, refusing to let it go.

"XANDER!" "Xander!" "Xander-sama!" "Xander-brother!"

He cautiously cracked an eye open. Well, he wasn't dead. He instinctively checked his wounds and was both unsurprised and sickened to see that his entire right side was charred and blackened. His skin was burned so badly that the nerves were destroyed and he felt little pain. Which was a small blessing now, but would be horrifically painful when they eventually regrew. His right arm was missing from the elbow down, the upper part wasn't much better off, missing most of the flesh and muscle mass, exposing the shoulder joint and arm bones to the air. A gaping hole was carved in the soft tissues of his side, blackened ribs and hipbone jutting out morbidly. He was lucky it was all a cauterized mess or he would be bleeding out all over the floor. He felt the perverse desire to touch it, to feel around on his insides and acquaint himself with his most intimate parts. Dimly he realized that he was probably in shock.

A familiar presence loomed over him, as a hand hovered protectively over his wounds, wanting to touch and sooth, but not able to without causing more damage. He twitched the stub of his arm, making flakes of cremated flesh crumble to the floor and looked up at Grimmjow's pale, shaken face, smiling faintly. "Look. We match."

The drawn and panicked look on Grimmjow's face faded to burning hatred and fiery rage. He whirled on Tousen with a snarl that echoed into eternity in the cavernous room, magnifying the single enraged feline into a legion. "I'll kill you!"

"Stop, Grimmjow. If you attack Kaname, I'll be forced to discipline you." "Grimmjow, stop. He's not worth it, the fucking coward."

It wasn't clear which of them he was listening to, but the Sexta released the cero he had been charging and returned to Xander's side, deliberately turning his back on the blind man in contempt.

"I heard a scream." The human told him, searching his cobalt eyes in confusion, his thought process still a little muddled. "But it was before I got hit, so it wasn't me. What happened?"

Shawlong stepped forward. "Nakim sonido'd in front of you and took the brunt of the blast. Your injuries would have been much more severe had he not sacrificed himself."

"Oh." Xander just stared at the tall arrancar dumbly. "Why would he do that? I knew he kinda liked me, but... well... he was a hollow. I may not be one anymore, but I remember the thought process. Selfish above all else, right?"

Yllfordt smiled at him, "We were all ready to do it, he just got there first. We're Grimmjow-brother's Fraccion. We serve him and he'd torture and kill us if we just stood by and let you get hurt. So, he wasn't doing it for you."

The human nodded in understanding, it was reassuring to know that Nakim's death hadn't been his fault. "Well, that's okay then."

"He was a fool and died for nothing." Tousen declared derisively as he charged another spell pointing at Xander once again.

"You fire that and you'll look like the pathetic sore loser you are." Xander retorted. "You are so quick to draw the shortcomings of others into the light. Should I list your crimes, Kaname..." He drew the name out deliberately drawing attention to the overly familiar salutation and the total lack of respect he was giving the man. "... as you are apparently too goddamn blind to see them yourself. Attacking and killing your allies, deliberately maiming someone rather than going for a clean kill, attacking and injuring an unarmed man, trying to win a verbal battle with brute physical force, attempting to justify petty prejudices with feeble self-righteous zealotry... It seems to me that your so called justice is flaccid, weak, shallow and underhanded. It's always those who preach loudest about truth and justice that are overcompensating for their base corruption. You are a worthless, pathetic excuse for a man. At least Grimmjow's honest about his motivations and goals. I've met compulsive liars more honest than you. You _uptight, **ass kissing**, **fanatic!**_**"**

Xander gave the bastard the finger and passed out over Grimmjow's arm, the energy of his rant had drained him totally.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

Take a wild guess about how much I don't like Tousen...

I had to stop several times while writing this chapter to marvel over just how horrifically evil I am to Xander and how gross and detailed my mental image of Xander's injuries is.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)  
Author has given no other permissions.  
3,822 Words - 7 Pages - 03/13/10


	5. And You Must Be the Evil Overlord

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers/Disclaimer/Pairing – See first chapter

Note - I wanted to use the title 'And You Must Be the Evil Overlord' for the chapter where Aizen and Xander first interact, and that didn't end up happening last chapter, so I renamed the last chapter and used the title here. That's why it may look familiar.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 5 - And You Must Be the Evil Overlord =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

There was a deafening silence in the throne room of Las Noches following the not-quite-human's speech and his subsequent and equally dramatic exit from consciousness. Each arranger present, Fraccion and Espada alike was frozen in shock. No one was really sure what to do or how to react and few would have been brave enough to comment first had they known what to say. Aizen wasn't making any move to indicate his feelings on the matter and had chosen to sit back and observe the ripples elicited by this new 'pebble' to the pool that was his carefully constructed world. Tousen's kido spell sputtered and died in his hand as he glared at the fallen man with such intensity you could almost believe he could see through his blind eyes or was attempting to set his victim on fire with previously unrevealed pyrokinetic abilities.

Grimmjow was fully wrapped up in determining the full extent of his human's injuries, gently cradling the limp, damaged form as carefully as he could with one arm. There could be no doubt about the claim the felinoid man had staked, willing to disobey orders, attempting take revenge on Tousen right there in the throne room and even backing down from an enraged state all due to this one man. Aizen's quick mind was carefully recalculating everything he knew about Grimmjow, fitting the whole story together and re-evaluating his Sexta's character.

It was very interesting to note that Grimmjow was capable of some emotional depth beyond his constant obstreperous resentment. A man who lived solely for the pleasure of the fight and the kill was an unstable ally, his loyalty could change in an instant if he saw a chance for a more interesting type of violence. Grimmjow had never shown any indication that he was anything but a simplistic aggression driven antagonist, ready and willing to take on the world until he conquered it or it responded to his challenge by rising up to killing him. He was predictably unpredictable and could be always be counted on to act in a straightforward, if contrary, manner. The Sexta Espada would never be the one to play political games. His betrayal, if it came to that, would be loud and obvious, his plans telegraphed clearly before the decisions were even consciously made.

In short, Aizen's plans had classified him as a pawn; common, weak, short sighted and nearly useless as anything but an obstruction to the maneuvering of his enemies and ultimately fated to be eventually sacrificed for the success of more important pieces. He watched as Grimmjow growled at his hovering Fraccion for getting too close to the unconscious man. The volatile Sexta's recent actions, however, spoke of a man who had what he cared for most taken away from him and thus lost all sense of reason and transformed into a bitter, beaten soul who sought nothing but to cause destruction and pain equal to that forced upon him.

Aizen had no illusions that Grimmjow had ever been a restful person who understood the value of diplomacy and tact, but with this new interpretation of his character, it was plausible that the bulk of his angry temperament could be assuaged by the young immortal human's presence, and that made both of them much more interesting. After all, even pawns had the ability to cross the chessboard and promote themselves into something of vital use on the battlefield.

"Szayel." Aizen enjoyed the instant rigidity in Grimmjow's form. The blunette refused to look up, but he was well aware who held the power here and that everything rested on Aizen's decision of what to do with their 'guest.' The ex-captain was still the God of this abandoned little world, and he wasn't known for being a benevolent deity.

"Yes, Aizen-sama?" Szayel could nearly contain his excitement, perhaps he was going to be granted the permission to experiment on the strange human. His fingers twitched and ached for his scalpel and other tools. A body that never died and could recover from anything was an eternally renewable source he could harvest for fresh human tissue.

He wondered, if he properly suppressed the immune system could grafts be accepted, and would they grow back if removed after the body had adjusted to their presence or would the remarkable healing ability reject any foreign parts and materials? If a limb were amputated would it grow a second body, and if not- if say, the body were perfectly bisected along the coronal or sagittal plane creating two perfect halves how would it be determined which piece would recover? If the heart were removed or forcefully prevented from beating would the organ regrow or was the body subsisting on some other source of life that would allow it to function without vital components? Would a freezing or petrifying process simply pause the healing process indefinitely, trapping the heart between one beat and the next? Would brain activity continue without heart function or upon removing the grey matter from the cranial cavity entirely? Did independent parts, removed from the whole retain-

"You will aid in the recovery of our guest. You may conduct any tests that do not hinder his recovery in a timely manner. I wish to understand the nature of his being."

Szayel's hopes fell. He was a scientist not a doctor. He took things apart and examined them, he had never cared for putting them back together and to be restricted in his experiments- it was a perversion of, and insult to, his profession. The forbidding look on Aizen's face reminded him that he may not be allowed free reign in his experiments, but in return he was granted his life and his precious laboratory, neither of which he was willing to sacrifice for want of a single test subject, no matter how how singular and unique. If he remained loyal and subservient he may still be afforded the chance at the human. After all, Grimmjow's litle pet couldn't possibly be in any way useful to the ex-shinigami's plans. The brunette had no power to speak of and would be useless as anything but a target- or a test subject and he had every confidence that his Lord would eventually come to realize that very important fact and give him the access and permission he craved. Until then he must content himself with non-invasive testing. He loathed non-invasive techniques, they yielded very little information of interest. He carefully smoothed out his scowl into a neutral expression and sketched a short bow, "It will be done."

He moved to take his 'patient' from the crazed Sexta espada, but stopped short when the over-powered cretin snarled at him defensively, teeth bared like an animal. Szayel had always maintained a patent disinterest in his fellow Espada and preferred to keep his distance, realizing that while they were the superior examples of their race they were unfortunately off limits to his lab and tests. His precious time was far more valuably spent sifting through the cast off refuse that formed the Privarion Espada and Numeros. They, at least, were useful to him, as no one took note of or cared when they disappeared into his lab. He was, however, still very aware of the power held by his fellows, as Octava Espada he was unfortunately less powerful than the majority and was subjected to feigning respect for them, despite their lacking intelligence.

"Grimmjow, if you prove to be disruptive to Szayel's work then I will be forced to restrict your access to the human." The nearly feral man stopped growling immediately, but a rumble still vibrating in his chest proved that his fury was neither tamed nor extinguished. Aizen was pleased to see that the young man could be very effectively used to tame his brutally savage Sexta. "Good. You are to accompany the Octava and have him reattach your arm as well. During the time that he is not in the labs, the human will be given into your care and you will be responsible for keeping him healthy and out of the way. Do you understand?"

"Tch. Yeah, I get it." Grimmjow ignored Szayel's expectant posture and instead deposited his precious bundle in Yllfordt's arms. He would have carried Xander himself, but he couldn't support the limp body with only one arm and still be careful about the blackened wounds. The blonde was only a Fraccion, but he was still Szayel's older brother and was likely the only one other than Aizen that could make the mad scientist do something he didn't want to, like refraining from taking Xander apart. It stung that within a day of getting his hyena back Grimmjow had already failed to protect him and couldn't even take care of him without help. What had his evolution and persistent training been for if he still couldn't take care of his possessions? Had he become any stronger at all since the day he'd lost Xander, because he certainly didn't feel powerful, he felt hurt and useless and that really pissed him off.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

"Put him on the table." Szayel instructed the weakling he was occasionally forced to recognize as his older brother, while he moved to his workbench and began to rummage through his cluttered experiments, organized only by his incredibly proficient recall of exactly where he put things down. If anything were ever moved or even rotated in place, Szayel knew about it. Aizen may rule Las Noches, but here, in the comfort of his lab, he was lord and master, and no one ever crossed him while they were in easy reach of so many unlabeled vials of his personally concocted ways to die in screaming agony. Not if they didn't want to become test subjects, that is.

"Will Xander-brother be alright?" Yllfordt asked as he gently laid out the injured human on the cold metal operating table. Even unconscious, Xander had kept a firm grip on Grimmjow's arm, and the blonde arrancar thought it made a cute, if slightly morbid, sight to see the young half-mangled man curled up on the operating table that had been the execution site for an innumerable procession of Szayel's many victims, cuddling with a severed arm as if it were a teddy bear. Xander always did have a way of warping the world around himself to be perceived differently. The bull-horned Fraccion was glad to see that the hyena hadn't died. Loosing him had poisoned Grimmjow's already harsh personality. It had been a difficult few years and hopefully things would go back to normal now that Xander was back, even if he was human. Yllfordt doubted that little fact would stop the brunette for long, if at all.

"He'd better be, or I'll tear Tousen limb from limb." Grimmjow snarled, looking murderous as he paced angrily next to his human, keeping himself between the Grantz siblings and the unconscious man at all times. He was furious and if he didn't calm himself down soon someone was going to die. Starting with that blind shinigami bastard.

Szayel rolled his eyes at the Sexta's protective posturing and aggressive dominance display. The cat had been very effectively declawed with Aizen's proclamation, he could do no damage to the Octava or his precious lab without repercussions and Szayel himself was unwilling to risk angering the former shinigami by harming his patient. For the moment, the human was in no danger, and yet the instinct bound animal was incapable of restraining himself and the primal impulses of his primitive reptilian brain function. "As he has so graciously demonstrated for us tonight, this particular human is very difficult to kill, and as such he is in no danger of dying. He will recover, eventually. I see no need for me to spend my precious time and effort in treating wounds that will heal on their own."

"Like fuck they will! Aizen told you to treat him, you pink fairy bastard."

Xander groaned as the reiatsu clashing in the air pressed into his raw flesh painfully. He opened his eyes to see Grimmjow attempting to kill Szayel with killer intent and glaring alone. There was a suspiciously precise two foot radius measured out between the two Espada and Xander could practically feel them each daring the other to make the first move. As he shifted on the uncomfortable metal table, his view of the two Espada was obscured by Yllfordt's worried face. "Are you alright, Xander-brother? You shouldn't move around. You're badly injured."

"Been better." He admitted, the tingling numbness of his destroyed nerves was giving way to burning pain as fresh and highly sensitive nerve endings grew in. He could feel phantom sensations of pain, heat, cold and pressure as the various different types of nerves regrew and fired randomly. It was excruciating and he could feel himself breaking out into a sweat from the stress on his body. "Been worse too, though."

"You probably wouldn't be injured so much if you were more careful about what you said to people." Yllfordt reasoned. He had known Xander for a long time now and was used to the other man's stubborn refusal to understand the concepts of tact and self preservation through keeping one's mouth shut. He was constantly amazed that no one had destroyed the hyena a long time ago for his total lack of anything even resembling respect. Then again, if Grimmjow was any kind of reliable example, it had probably been tried. Xander had a talent for getting himself out of trouble in the same condition he found it in.

"True." Xander gasped. The pain was getting worse, much worse, and it took all of his concentration to keep the blackness from spreading any farther than the edges of his vision. There was a loud ringing in his ears and he felt that sick, nauseous feeling he got every time he was severely injured and his body couldn't process the pain. He was grateful for the metal table under him, if he had been standing he knew his strength and balance would be non existent and he would have fallen to the floor. The cool metal was a soothing presence against his overheated skin even as the solid table seemed to sway and buck beneath him. He focused his eyes with single minded determination on Ylfordt's face, letting the pain steal away all awareness of everything else. "What… what are they... arguing about?"

Xander's uneven and labored breathing was loud enough to break the Espada out of their silent battle of wills and they turned their attention to the flushed human shivering and twitching on the table.

"He won't heal you." Grimmjow bit out, enraged that the Octava refused to be intimidated into taking action.

"There's not-" Xander gasped as the damaged and torn muscle groups in his side chose that moment to seize and contract painfully, forcibly arching him off of the table. He was frozen like that for a long moment, eyes wide and uncomprehending as they stared blankly at the ceiling in agony, back bent into an unnatural shape with his muscles locked and rigid. When he finally relaxed, dropping back to the table inch by inch, violent tremors continued to run through him and he was racked with a coughing fit, choking up blood. "-not much… he could.. do."

"There. You see. Even the human has more intelligence than you. Now sit down. Lord Aizen has ordered me to repair your arm, and I would rather waste as little time as possible on you." Grimmjow growled at Szayel as he reached towards Xander to take the severed arm. "I have no interest in harming your human, Jeagerjaques, so stop your ridiculous protectiveness, it's not impressing anyone. Yllfordt if you aren't going to make yourself useful, get out."

Yllfordt turned to Grimmjow, his brother may be an Espada, but he was Fraccion to the Sexta not the Octava and if Grimmjow wanted him here, he would stay. The bluenette glanced up for long enough to wave him off and went back to hovering over the human. Yllfordt gave Xander one last assessing look and with a short bow to the two Espada, he left. He really didn't want to get stuck between a pissed off over-protective arrancar and a stubbornly arrogant one, especially when both were capable of destroying him easily. The human was on his own.

Xander was only capable of being aware of one thing at a time, as most of his concentration was taken up by the will not to pass out again. He didn't even notice the blonde leave. He blinked and stared at Szayel blankly as the pinkette pried his unresponsive fingers off of Grimmjow's severed limb. He hadn't known he was still holding on to it, but he felt a little bereft without it. It figured that he would attach himself to a bloody cut-off extremity as a safety blanket. He hadn't been quite the same since he died and it was the little things that made him realize how changed his soul was, due to his status as a survivor of Hueco Mundo. Maybe he had left pieces behind when he died or when he came back. He understood Buffy's fears that she'd come back wrong, it just felt like something was missing, it felt like he wasn't the same person as the Xander that had died in Sunnydale. He rolled his head limply to the side to see Grimmjow standing over him and blazing blue eyes met with his dazed and pain fogged brown. There were so many emotions running rampant behind those piercing eyes, but Xander was in too much agony to be able to make any sense of them all, even the ones some still fully conscious part of his brain told him were obvious.

His gaze fell from those confusing windows to Grimmjow's soul and trailed down to the jagged edges of his empty, blood soaked sleeve. The constant roar of his pain lessened for a moment as it was blunted by a wave of concern. Why were they talking about healing him? He'd be fine, but Grimmjow was still bleeding and needed his arm back. It was somehow really important that the blue haired man be complete. That way he could fight and kill the way he was supposed to. The feline was at his most beautiful when he was fighting and letting the violent exhilaration overtake his naturally grouchy personality. Grimmjow wasn't supposed to be hurt, he was strength and force incarnate, it wasn't right that he could get injured. He was above that, Xander decided fuzzily, Grimmjow shouldn't ever be wounded, it was wrong. This had to be fixed. Now.

"Your arm." He managed to raise himself up on his one remaining elbow and reached out his stub towards Grimmjow before remembering that his other arm didn't exist. He stared at it where his hand should have been dumbly for a moment and turned to Grimmjow's concerned- that's what that emotion is, he thought, concern- face and desperately maintained eye contact as the bluenette stepped forward and pressed Xander back down onto the table with uncharacteristic gentleness. "You're hurt. Make him fix it."

Szayel snorted. "The concern you two show for each other is touching, and slightly nauseating." He turned to Grimmjow in irritation, waving the severed arm and letting it flop back and forth at the elbow. "Do you want this back or not, because I do not have all night to argue with you and I am very willing to find some use for it if you won't."

"Grimmjow, only an idiot pisses off their healer. To know the way to put you back together they have to know all the best ways you can be taken apart." At Xander's snarky words, Grimmjow reluctantly relaxed and removed his jacket, giving Szayel the access he wanted. Xander watched as the pink haired man's eyes narrowed in concentration behind his boneskin glasses. He carefully realigned the bones and muscle of Grimmjow's shoulder and ran a glowing finger over the broken flesh. As Xander watched the skin slowly seal back together he felt a sense of peace that all was right in the world again. Szayel quickly and efficiently set what looked like staples made of reiatsu across the wound to hold the arm together as it healed. They immediately sank into the skin and disappeared, they were Xander decided, much better than human stitches.

Disregarding Szayel's disapproving glare, Grimmjow immediately stretched and rotated his arm, testing it's mobility. He grinned wildly as his fingers, wrist and elbow flexed properly. He totally ignored the flare of pain. The Octava gave up on his idiotic patients with a sigh and started putting his materials away. No one was really paying attention to the door and they were all a little surprised when Aizen walked in, trailed by a cheerfully fox-faced Gin. Grimmjow immediately stopped his stretching and stepped in front of Xander, obscuring him from the ex-shinigami's gaze. A look of amusement flickered in Aizen's cold eyes for a moment. "Ah, Grimmjow. It's good to see you back in one piece. Perhaps this will serve as a lesson in using your restless energy for more beneficial activities than taking unauthorized field trips."

As the Sexta was distracted by their Lord and Commander, Szayel grabbed a syringe full of faintly glowing translucent yellow fluid and smoothly shoved the needle into Xander's neck without any warning. "Hey!" Xander managed to get out before the contents of the needle emptied themselves into his bloodstream and everything went fuzzy and the constant pain faded away. "What the hell?"

Abandoning his face-off with Aizen to confront the more immediate threat, Grimmjow leapt over the table and grabbed Szayel by the front of his shirt and yanked him off the ground, they were the same height, but the former feline was considerably heavier and stronger than the Octava. He roared in anger in the defiant scientist's face and demanded "What the fuck did you just do?"

"Grimmjow, I believe I warned you about disrupting Szayel's work." Aizen began but was interrupted from continuing when Xander giggled loudly. A pleasant thrill ran up Grimmjow's spine at the familiar cackle. It was a sound that had always annoyed the hell out of him and bothered his sensitive ears. It was a sound that he had thought he'd never hear again and it made something in his gut feel all warm to hear it now. He dropped the pink idiot carelessly to the floor and went to check on his hyena. Human or not, Xander was still Xander and he'd just been injected with some kind of strange unidentified drug.

"Whoo! That's the good stuff, inn'it? I am feeling NO pain. Where's that Tousen bastard. I demand a rematch." Grimmjow had to grab hold of Xander's shoulders to keep him from hopping right off the table and wandering away to avenge his honor. He stared at the fallen scientist in disbelief. Aizen and Gin also turned to the Octava curiously. What had been in that syringe?

Szayel picked himself up off the floor with a sense of offended dignity and shifted uncomfortably under the looks directed his way. He placed his fingers on the bridge of his glasses and adjusted their placement microscopically. "A properly made pain reliever has only one purpose, to remove the sensation of pain. Other drugs may have slight pain relieving properties, but my specially modified serum is capable of affecting all of the pain receptors in the brain at once and shuts them down completely. He is currently incapable of feeling any discomfort. Unfortunately, it is nearly useless in battle as pain is a function of the body that identifies injuries and without those indicators it is far easier to accidentally overexert yourself to death. It has some other side effects, including euphoria, loss of taste sensation, amnesia or short-term memory loss, impaired balance, loss of muscle coordination, reduced inhibitions, and erratic behavior."

Gin actually cracked one of his eyes open to look at Szayel from where he was leaning casually against the wall by the door, "Are ya sayin' he's drunk?"

Szayel adjusted his glasses again and cleared his throat, "You could classify his state as intoxicated at the moment, yes."

Xander stopped trying to get off the table and leaned back against Grimmjow's chest with a giggle. The Sexta had easily kept him in place despite his wriggling and although he hadn't noticed the hands on his shoulders, Xander noticed that his efforts to move weren't getting him very far. He looked at Aizen and pouted, "You need a better mad scientist. This one's busted. I think he gave me the Arrancar-sized dose, cuz I'm pretty sure I overdosed and I'm having a heart attack… but I'm not sure. My chest feels funny, all squeezy and stabby and hard to breathe-y. Didn't kill me, but not much does these days. I'm all floaty, so I can't feel any pain, or much of anything. I could be a head floating in a jar and I don't think I'd know the difference."

His voice dropped to a whisper, glanced around quickly and confided. "I think I might be totally zonked out of my gourd. Which kinda sucks for you. If you're gonna drug a prisoner before interrogating them you gotta do it _ju~st_ right, too little and they can still lie to you, too much and they get a little fuzzy on reality and that's just no help at all." He frowned, staring at the Leader of Las Noches with a glazed and unfocused look. "Wait a minute. You." He pointed at Aizen. "Com'ere."

With a bemused look on his face Aizen stepped forward, curious to see what the human had in mind. As he approached, Grimmjow's tense hands dug into Xander's shoulders to the point he should have been in pain, but thanks to Szayel's drug, he didn't even notice. "Did you know you're a Shinigami? You're not supposed to be here. You're supposed to be on the other side." He made a sweeping 'over there' type gesture. "Didja get lost?"

Aizen smiled, humoring the amusing human. It wasn't often that he was able to converse with someone with no fear of his power or position. Not even his friendly Captain persona had been treated so casually. "No. I am exactly where I want to be."

"Well that's just dumb. No one WANTS to be in Hueco Mundo. It's definitely not in my top ten vacation spots. It's like number thirteen at best. But then again, you're an evil overlord. You have different priorities than the rest of us."

Aizen paused for a moment, watching the human carefully. When he spoke it was with the quietly understanding teaching voice he had often used to guide Hinamori as the Captain of the 5th division or during his time as a teacher for the Shino Academy. "Are you sure it is wise to so readily assume that you understand my morality?"

Xander managed to match Aizen's serious face for less than a second before he cracked and waved his hand dismissively at the most powerful man in Hueco Mundo, and possibly Soul Society as well. "Pfft! Are you kidding? Everyone who's anyone knows that it's not who you are that's important, it's the company you keep… and this isn't exactly the land of the fluffy bunny people who like candy, children and hugs."

Gin piped up again with a grin, he liked this kid. "Does liken' candy automatically disqualify ya from bein' evil?"

Xander grinned back, "But of course. What self respecting villain goes around sucking on a lollipop or chewing gum?"

"Sorry Taicho, looks like I'm not evil after all." Gin tucked his hands into his sleeves and smiled hugely at his one-time Captain. Having been considered one of the creepiest people in Seireitei outside of the 12th Division, Gin didn't have much chance to banter with anyone who wasn't wary of his inherently sarcastic and mockingly polite personality. This one would be fun to play with.

Xander studied the grinning silver haired man as carefully as he could considering his eyes were glassy and he was swaying slightly. "I wouldn't sell yourself short. You seem plenty evil to me. But then again what would I know, my morality meter's gone all screwy since I died. Course, I wasn't the greatest judge of character before that either. Most of my friends have tried to kill me and all of my romantic interests were evil, ex-evil, evil on hiatus, experimenting with evil, working for evil, worshipping evil or evil-to-be." He thought about that for a moment. "God, that's so depressing. Maybe I should just save everyone the hassle and switch sides."

He leaned back on Grimmjow's chest and looked up at the tense Sexta. "What do you think? Could I be evil? Doesn't seem like it's that hard. Push some old ladies into traffic and kick a few puppies and your all set." He twisted around in a way that made the others wince as his mangled body contorted, and reached up to pat Grimmjow's spiky hair. The incredulous arranger just stared at him and allowed the drunk human to pat him like a common pet. "Can't hurt kitties though. I like kitties."

"Your hair is blue. I like it." He noted distantly, watching with fascination as the spikes of hair poked between his fingers. Grimmjow's hair wasn't gelled at all and was softer than he would have imagined, it was just naturally as spiky and threatening as the rest of him. He curled a long spike around his finger as he turned to Szayel. "… and yours is pink. That's just not normal. Kinda girly." Szayel's teeth ground audibly but he didn't say anything. Aizen got a brilliant smile, "Brown hair is the mark of awesomeness of course. You wear it well. Very distinguished." The edges of Aizen's mouth quirked at the comment. His entire personality and ability had just been boiled down to 'nice hair.'

Next, Xander's wandering eye fell back on Gin, "Hey, your hair is all silver-white-ish. Are you old? Spike was old, but he bleached his hair so it didn't really count. He liked to kill people with iron spikes, ya'know. It's why we called him Spike. Well, that and cuz his real name was William, and that's lame." He rolled the name around on his tongue, stretching and distorting it's pronunciation. "William, Will-i-am. Will. I. Am. Will. Wills. S'too bad Wills isn't here. She could fix me right up. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Dumpty back together again, but my Wills is awesome like that. She can do anything! She's magic. Abracadabra. POOF!"

As the human's giggles cut off abruptly, Grimmjow looked down to see that Xander had passed out leaning against him, his head flopped to one side. His breathing was clearer than it had been since before Grimmjow had attacked him. His side was mostly healed, superficially at least, Grimmjow didn't know how much internal damage there still was and Xander's arm had regrown down to the elbow, the flesh still pink and new. As he watched small spurs of bone poked out from the joint beginning to reconstruct the foundation of the forearm. Tiny pieces of muscle stretched out and connected to the bone and began to weave themselves thicker and longer.

"Hmm." Szayel muttered to himself, watching the slightly hitched breathing of the human. "Heart palpitations and drowsiness. Those are new. Of course he is the first human to have been tested on."

"Tested?" Grimmjow growled. "He's the first human you've fucking _tested_ this on? You didn't know what would happen to him when you stuck him with that fucking drug?"

"Grimmjow. Calm yourself. He has suffered no damage. You will take him to your quarters and return here in the morning. Szayel will need to run some tests on him and at the rate his condition is improving he will be nearly healed by then." Aizen glanced appraisingly at the human's wounds and the protective arm Grimmjow had draped over his shoulders to keep him from toppling over in his sleep. He had much to think about. He may not like it when his pawns took their own initiative and Grimmjow could very easily have damaged his plans tonight, but in the end this could be an opportunity to curb the independent nature of his Sexta Espada. If nothing else the human could be used to tame the wild beast, but something told him that the boy could have even greater uses. It would depend on the findings from Szayel's tests. Nothing more could be accomplished tonight and the morning, although indistinguishable in the eternal night of his vast sandy empire, would bring with it a rested mind and clearer thoughts.

"He int'rests ya." Gin commented mildly as they left the labs. His eyes cracked open to look at the powerful man walking in front of him, white back recently bared of the 5th company's mark. He had followed that back for a long time but every time he felt he had it memorized it changed it's path and his place was to follow wherever it lead. "Ain't never seen ya take an int'rest in someone like this b'fore. 'Cept with that ryouka berry boy."

"A good leader has solid plans, a great leader has the ability to change those plans at a moments notice when the game shifts. It seems that the game has just shifted and it's time to adapt ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to us." Aizen kept walking, he never stumbled and never thought of taking other paths. He planned out every step years before he ever made it. He had known for a long time that he would someday be walking these halls as everything fell into place. This human that so interested his Sexta was just one more thing that he would take and shape to his will.

"My, my. You seem like you're haven' fun."

"Perhaps just a little."

Gin was startled into a genuine laugh at the admission. Aizen, Sousuke-fucking-Aizen, Lord and ruler of Hueco Mundo, shame and bane of the Gotei 13 had just made a humorous comment. He would have to check the next window he saw to make sure the sun hadn't risen over the sands of Hueco Mundo.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

Question for ya - Should Aizen be evil or just 'misunderstood guy'? I love reading both and have a kinda plan for this fic, but I'm curious… what do you guys want to read?

I apologize for my sudden use of giant vocabulary words, but I try to keep everything in the correct 'tone' for who is thinking. So, Xander and Grimm will only be using normal vocabulary, whereas Szayel and Aizen will be using arrogant 'I'm smarter than you' language.. even in their heads. It's in the same vein as Grimmjow's use of Shinigamis when the correct plural is still just Shinigami, he's the type to not care about grammar or proper word use.

Ok, so I was looking for Bleach clips on YouTube to check out Szayel and Aizen's tone of speaking and the first one I found was the Renji vs Szayel fight in French dub. Szayel makes a decent Frenchman, but Renji just sounded ridiculous.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)

Author has given no other permissions.

5,777 Words - 02/04/11


	6. It's Always Behind You

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers/Disclaimer/Pairing – See first chapter

**Quick and Dirty Bleach Vocab -  
**Several people have commented that they've never seen/read Bleach and my vocab is getting a little confusing.

Reiatsu - Spiritual power

Gigai - Technically everyone in Bleach, except the humans, is dead and invisible to normal humans. They need to use a fake body to look like/interact with humans.

Gikongan/Mod Soul - When hopping out of their fake bodies, shinigami leave artificially created AI/souls in control so that they aren't leaving unconscious bodies laying around.

Shunpo (Flash Step)/Sonido - When a character moves so ridiculously fast that they seem to teleport. It also allows characters to stand on air, as technically they are gathering spirit particles under their feet to ride on. Shinigami shunpo, arrancar sonido

Zanpakuto (soul-cutting sword) - Main weapon for shingami and arrancar. Can cut spirits, each has a different name and ability. In their sealed state they look like normal swords, short swords or knives. Released with a catchphrase yelled by the wielder.. such as "REIRSE, HIENA!" (Laugh, Hyena!) [I sense some foreshadowing… Hint, hint.]

Shikai - First release, the zanpakuto changes from a sword to a more original shape (ex. razor sharp sakura petals or ash cloud, shuriken, segmented whip sword, rapier, mace etc.)

Bankai - Second release, for the most part only Captains are strong enough to release this powerful form, usually a more extreme version of the shikai, this is when the really bizarre powers come in

Resurreccion - Arrancar only have one release and instead of their sword evolving, they absorb their sword and take on a 'released form' physically

Plus Soul/Pluses - Normal ghosts, have a Chain of Fate that used to tie them to their bodies, if it erodes away they become hollows

Hollows/Menos - 'Evil' spirits, former plus souls that have lost their hearts to despair/hatred/fear/anger etc. They have a mask made out of bone and a large hole through their chest (as they evolve the location can change) They survive and get stronger by eating pluses, other hollows and shinigami.

Gillian/Menos Grande - The first evolution of hollows, when they consume enough souls, hollows become giant black shrouded Gillians, they are huge, slow, stupid and very common in Hueco Mundo.

Adjuchas - Second evolution of Hollows, a Gillian that retains it's sense of self can evolve into a smaller, more unique looking menos. (Grimmjow was a panther and Xander was a hyena)

Vasto Lorde - Last evolution of a hollow, they are tiny (human sized) and incredibly powerful, supposedly there are less than five in a all of Hueco Mundo

Arrancar - Hollow that has removed it's mask and gained shinigami powers, they appear human but still have a mask fragment and hollow hole. Part of their massive power separates from them and becomes a zanpakuto.

Espada - Aizen's 10 strongest arrancar, they are ranked 1-10 according to their power levels. Grimmjow is 6 (Sexta) and Szayel is 8 (Octava) They each have a number tattoo

Privarion Espada - Demoted Espada that have been ousted by more powerful arrancar

Numeros - Most powerful arrancar after the Espada (and Privarion Espada)

Fraccion - Numeros assigned to work for certain Espada

Hueco Mundo - 'Hell' full of hollows, it's a desert with endless sand dunes and crystalized dead trees. Always nighttime, everything is white, from the hollow's bone-skin to the sand and dead trees

Las Noches - Aizen's huge fortress in Hueco Mundo, entirely made out of white stone

Garganta - Arrancar power. They can tear a hole between dimensions and move back and forth through the worlds

Cero - General hollow power. Destructive blast of reiatsu, can vary in forms and strength as they practice and modify it

Hierro (Steel skin) - Natural hollow ability where reiatsu strengthens the skin and makes it impervious to damage. Leads to awesome sword catching and deflecting moves

Shinigami - 'Death Gods' who guide plus souls to the afterlife and purify hollows by breaking their masks

Soul Society - The afterlife Shinigami send plus souls to, looks like ancient Japan and supposed to be 'heaven' but it is much like the living world and has it's own hardships

Seireitei - Center of Soul Society, this is where all nobles/shinigami live and operate, separated from the poorer Rukongai section by massive walls

Gotei 13 - The 13 squads/divisions of the shinigami, each lead by a Captain and Vice-Captain. Aizen, Gin and Tousen were Captains before betraying Soul Society

Kido (Demon Arts) - Shinigami spells. Can be offensive, defensive, barriers, restraints or healing abilities. Each spell has a name, is numbered 1-99 to indicate power level and difficulty and is categorized Hado (way of destruction), Bakudo (Way of binding) or Healing (which are unnumbered or named)

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 6 - Horror Movie Rules: It's Always Behind You =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Xander was human.

That thought had stuck in Grimmjow's head for hours. Xander was human. He was alive… in every sense of the word. It was more than the feline having been wrong about his disappearance meaning the destruction of his spirit form, he was alive in the way that came with a body and mortal weaknesses. While Grimmjow had been working constantly on being stronger and faster and better than ever before, Xander had been forced backwards in his evolution, his strength and power ripped from him. He was a frail shell of himself and it infuriated Grimmjow to see someone who was once his equal forced into the position of victim.

As an adjuchas, the hyena had been an unstoppable force. It was because of his personality as much as it was about physical power. Nothing fazed him and nothing seemed to scare him. That much was still true. He had ignored and joked with Aizen in a way that Grimmjow couldn't even imagine trying. He'd always been the most rebellious of the Espada, but even he knew to show deference and respect to the shinigami. Not so with Xander. He had an innate ability to present himself as an equal to everyone he met. No one was made to feel lesser and no one was allowed to assume authority over him and he did it so casually, so naturally, that it wasn't questioned or considered to be overstepping his bounds.

As a human, Xander was both stronger and weaker than Grimmjow had ever seen him. Physically he was nothing. His healing prevented his death, but there wasn't much he could do to defend himself in any way. He had to endure whatever the powerful beings around him decided was his due. Which was his strength. He had to know how incredibly outmatched he was here in the devil's own home. His life was in their hands and the could choose to tear him apart and there was nothing he could do about it, but he never showed any fear, never faltered in his self assurance. He maintained the attitude that he was equal to them, despite the obvious power gap, and that seemed to actually earn him some measure of respect in this den of killers.

"What happened to you?" He murmured into the dark hair tucked under his chin. His rooms only had one bed after all, and Aizen had ordered him to take care of his human. As if he needed the order. Xander was never going anywhere without him again. He obviously couldn't take care of himself, so Grimmjow was taking the decision out of his hands. If he wasn't going to keep himself healthy, then the blunette would just have to do it for him. Anyone who wanted to say otherwise could present their arguments to his claws, fangs and Pantera's blade.

Grimmjow drifted in a semiconscious state, basking in the heat radiating from the warm body in his embrace and wreathed in the familiar scents of lime and sun warmed grass. Grimmjow had always loved the hyena's scent. It was different from anything else he'd scented in their dead world of sand and even the blood that had covered Xander's claws never fully overpowered it. There was always a trace of that warm and fresh scent, lacing through the blood and old death.

He jolted awake when citrus sharpened into ozone and lightning, and images of glassy red sand invaded his peace. His hold tightened reflexively around his human. He would die before allowing Xander to escape him again, and he would shred anyone who tried to take him. He had become strong for this purpose, to keep hold of anything precious to him, to never again feel regret for not having the power to protect what was his. He'd sworn that day that human, shinigami or arrancar it didn't matter, anyone who underestimated him would be smashed to pieces. He was the panther king, and what was his would never be taken by force.

Never again.

He couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different if he had given up on waiting for their perfect fight and just marked the hyena as his. He would have been beside Grimmjow all this time and would be one of his fraction like Shawlong and the others. At the time he hadn't been willing to forfeit that tantalizing unspoken promise that one day they would have a reckoning, one day they would stare each other down across a true battle field and would tear into each other in earnest.

He stared down at the exposed throat just inches from his fangs. He still wanted that glorious fight, but the arrival of that day seemed farther than ever before. He wanted to devour Xander and be devoured in return. He wanted to crack open the marrow of the hyena's bones and replace it with himself. He wanted the other to split open his ribcage and bury himself so deep in Grimmjow's chest that he could never claw him out. He wanted nothing more than to rend Xander's flesh and mark him permanently. He wanted to take and claim and fully consume every part of him and he wanted Xander to do the same.

"It wouldn't mean anything." Grimmjow was startled to hear Xander speak, he'd been so focused that he hadn't heard the altered breathing and alertness lacing Xander's reiatsu."If you bit me- it wouldn't mean anything."

Grimmjow stiffened and moved his arm from where it had been comfortably holding the smaller man against his chest. He was stopped when one of Xander's hands darted out to grab his and hold him in place. "I'm human. Biting doesn't mean anything. It's just another scar and with my 'condition' it wouldn't even be that. If you bit me the mark would fade in a matter of minutes and it would be like it didn't matter at all." He turned on his back to look up at Grimmjow seriously, lacing their fingers together. "I want you to bite me. I want to be yours… but- I want it to mean something when you do."

With a possessive growl, the Sexta rolled himself over the smaller male and pressed him down into the sheets, arms caging his head on either side. "You are mine. Mark or no mark. Bite or no bite. You. Are. Mine. Never forget that."

Xander groaned at the full body contact, their matching hardness molded together perfectly. "Yours." He agreed breathlessly, staring up at the dangerous predator that had him trapped and helpless. God, there must be something wrong with him to find such menace the hottest thing he'd ever seen. Then again, considering his history, he'd always been drawn to people who could kill him. Maybe there was something incredibly right about this. He certainly couldn't see any problems with it at the moment. Of course, he doubted he was thinking very clearly with his upstairs brain, the other one knew exactly what he wanted and wasn't afraid to broadcast it as he pressed up into the man pinning him.

Xander raised his new hand and traced the edges of Grimmjow's mask fragment, the sensation tingling through his re-grown nerves. Grimmjow's eyes went half-lidded and he leaned into the touch like a house cat would, a deep rumble vibrating in his chest. "Never meant to leave you." Grimmjow growled in displeasure at the thought, low in his throat, sending a thrill down Xander's spine. How could such a perfectly deadly creature want him? "Keep me forever." He begged, searching the piercing blue eyes staring down at him. "Never let them take me away."

"Never." His panther growled, blanketing Xander with his larger frame and pressing a mask-adorned face into the curve of his neck. He gave Xander's collarbone a series of small, sharp nips, and soothed them with his tongue. "Never again. Mine."

Xander wrapped his arms around Grimmjow, pulling him impossibly closer. They were both lulled into sleep, seduced by the simple comfort of being curled together and no longer haunted by lightning or the cutting edges of glass.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Hours later, they were pulled out of their peaceful sleep when Edorado stuck his head in the door. "If you two are done with your snuggling, Szayel's been hovering outside for over an hour trying to work up the guts to bother you."

"Go 'way, Ed." Xander demanded, burying his face in Grimmjow's shoulder with a groan. He did not want to deal with the world right now, especially if the world's chosen representative was a mad scientist that wanted to take him apart and was a bit too handy with the drugs. Being poked and prodded or snuggling with his cat? There was no contest.

Unless his cat wanted to poke and prod him. That he could go for. Anya had enlightened him of the fun that could be had while playing naughty nurse. It was just too bad that he seriously doubted Grimmjow would wear a short skirt or nylon stockings and garter for him. Nurse Grimmy would be hot. _Oh, no sir. This is a _**rectal **_thermometer. _Xander shivered and barely held in a moan. God bless Anya, in whatever afterlife she ended up in, may it be full of money and a personal harem primed for her pleasure.

"Good morning to you too, Sparky." Edorado laughed and left well enough alone, he wasn't sure Grimmjow would let him live if he genuinely upset the human. Things were always more interesting with the hyena around, and he was glad to see the little brat hadn't died on them.

"Fuckin' mornin' pe'ple. Should piss off n' die." Xander mumbled into Grimmjow's chest.

Grimmjow produced a rusty rumbling noise of amusement deep in his chest that sounded like it probably hurt his throat. He had never had much cause for genuine laughter in his life and was a little out of practice. He sat up and watched as Xander rolled into the vacated warm spot and snuggled against his hip with the sheets pulled up over his ears. "So, we've finally found something you can't just laugh off. Who knew, that your fatal weakness could be something simple like getting up in the morning."

"Shut up, Grimmjow. It's never morning in Hueco Mundo, so technically you're waking me up in the middle of the night. My skin itches, my muscles burn, my bones ache, my nerves are over sensitized and stabbing at me. I'm nauseous and tired and cranky. I've got the worst hangover ever from the evil roofie of doom, and I just remembered that I spilt my milk. Do you have any idea how long it took me to decide what to buy? If you continue bothering me, I WILL find a way to scratch your eyes out with blunt fingernails."

A devious smirk crossed the feline's face, perfectly suited to a cat who has just caught a mouse and plans to torment it relentlessly. With one smooth movement, he had snatched up the sheet covered Xander burrito and dragged him out of bed.

"Nooooo." Xander whined, hanging limply in Grimmjow's arms, willing himself to be as heavy as possible. "You're _so_ evil. Bad kitty."

Grimmjow just chuckled. This was becoming a disturbing pattern. He got no respect at all.

He was deposited, none too gently on a couch and bounced a little with the impact. He wriggled pathetically until he managed to pop his head out of his twisted cocoon and looked around. The cruel asshole had dropped him in a living room, or a dead room, whatever- it looked like Grimmjow and his Fraccion shared an apartment with their bedrooms all branching off of this communal room. Xander could see the open door to Grimmjow's room across from him and as he twisted around, he could see the cat himself disappearing into what looked like a bathroom behind his couch.

Everything was white, white floors, white walls, white ceilings (no wait, only one ceiling) even the sofas and the sheets he was twisted up in were the same damn color. He wondered if he covered his head and lay back down, if he could blend into the couch well enough that Grimmjow couldn't find him. It was a nice thought, but since being resurrected he didn't have the ability to mask his reiatsu, so it would be kinda pointless to try and hide.

"Good morning, Xander-brother." Yllfordt chirped brightly as he and Edorado entered through a hallway that branched off to where Xander assumed their rooms were. Surprise, surprise, they were wearing white. With his pale skin and brilliant blonde hair Yllfordt looked washed out and his skinny form would have been easily overlooked if he didn't talk so much. He was like a swishy, long haired, cheerful Spike. Which is to say that he really didn't have anything in common with the vampire outside of coloring and their unique dead and not-quite-gone status. Edorado by contrast, was a huge hulk of a man at least six and a half feet tall, with long bright red hair juxtaposed sharply with the half of his head that was shaved close and dyed black. His skin was much darker and he seemed to pop out of the background due to his coloring, rather than sink into it.

"There's nothing good about it." Xander grumped, wiggling down into his sheets with a full blown power-glower at the far wall, trying to regain his bubble of warm comfort. It just wasn't the same without a big, hot, purring body pillow.

"Aw, don't be like that, brat." Edorado plopped down next to him and grabbed him in a headlock. "We can't be happy to see you? We thought you were dead, you know."

"Grimmjow-sama was most upset about your abrupt disappearance." Xander twisted awkwardly in the crook of Edorado's elbow to see Shawlong looking down at him. Everything about Shawlong was long and pointy. He broke six feet by a good margin but was whip thin and severe looking. His strong asian features and rigid posture made him look like a sternly disapproving disciplinarian. He was the kind of person who's presence made you feel inadequate and distasteful, like you were a misbehaving child. He kinda reminded Xander of early Giles, before the Watcher had relaxed.

"That's sweet, really guys." He wheezed. It was a little heartwarming that despite being hollows, they had mourned, in their own way, when they had thought he was gone. Even if it was only regret that his loss had apparently made their leader, Grimmjow go off the deep end. He smacked at the huge, muscle corded arm crushing his windpipe. "Ed, can't breathe."

Edorado quickly released him, and settled for messing up his hair with one huge meaty hand instead. "Forgot how fragile you are now, Princess."

"You couldn't even dodge Grimmjow-brother's fist or Tousen-sama's kido. Are humans all that slow?" Yllfordt questioned.

"Fuck you both." Xander glared at them. Despite the fact that they were tactless hollows, he couldn't believe how much he had missed these guys. During his life, all of his friends were girls, but here he was surrounded by men and it was nice. It was like having a family of brothers. Yllfordt may be infecting his brain with all that brother crap, but it felt right to call them family. A serial killing, soul devouring, evil family, but then again no one is perfect and every family has it's faults.

"I think Grimmjow may have a problem with that." Edorado laughed, his huge booming voice echoing strangely off of the bare walls. His eyes were focused mischeiviously over Xander's shoulder.

With a sense of dreadful anticipation, Xander turned to see Grimmjow standing right behind him and looking down on him with the most gleefully smug expression Xander had ever seen. An echo of the shock he'd felt on first having seen his panther's human form ran through him. He was really here, Grimmjow was really here- and staring down at him like he was about to pounce. The warm feeling abruptly faded. Before he'd thought it through, Xander had lurched up off the couch in an attempt to escape, but his feet and legs were still tangled and bound by the sheets, so he didn't get very far before running became falling. As he braced for the face/floor impact that was coming, he felt an arm loop around his waist and tug him back against a now familiar firm chest.

A chest that rumbled with laughter again. He could get used to that sound- as long as it didn't mean constantly humiliating himself. "Looks like I found a way to keep you from running. I just have to keep you in my bed at all times."

Xander's mind fuzzed up immediately with that smokey voice curling in his ear, whispering delightful things. "I have no problem with that." Wait, what. Who'd hijacked his tongue. He blushed bright red and finally found the motivation to struggle. Not that it was anything but a token gesture. Grimmjow wasn't letting him go anywhere. Still, some insecure part of Xander made him struggle in order to force Grimmjow into proving that he could back up his words and would fight for him. "I mean- no thanks, I'm good."

It was then that he was reminded of his audience as they all laughed at him. Bastards, the whole lot of them. No respect.

"Is that so." Oh, no. The voice was back. He could feel his knees getting all rubbery. Thank god he wasn't standing under his own power. He'd have to let Grimmjow hold him up for now. It wasn't as if he had a fluffy bunny's chance in Hueco Mundo chance to escape anyways. "I'll just have to convince you then."

Oh god. Xander had never wanted to have someone try to change his mind so bad in his life. He didn't fight when Grimmjow lifted him onto his shoulder again and began walking, until the fact that they were heading AWAY from the bedroom processed in his totally blown mind. "Grimmjow, wha-"

He was cut off when the door slammed behind them and he was thrust, sheets and all into a hot shower. He would deny until his next dying day that he screeched like a little girl in his shock, but the muffled laughter coming from behind the door meant that there was no one who would believe him. He was going to get some sort of complex about this respect thing. He wished horrible fates on them all.

"What the HELL was that for?" He demanded, glaring up at the blunette who was smirking at him in pleasure, enjoying his irritation. He was very aware of the water trickling across his scalp, damping his hair down and the futility of clutching the drenched sheet closer in an attempt to protect himself from the water. This proved, once and for all, that hiding under the sheets did not make the monsters go away. It just gave them an excuse to torment you.

"You're still covered in blood and it was starting to smell bad."

He peeled the wet sheet away from himself to look down at his shredded, bloody clothing and sighed. He carefully untangled himself and balled the sheet up. His clothes were ruined, but when you get hit by a fireball that is pretty much to be expected. A devious thought crossed his mind and without looking up, he chucked the sheets directly at Grimmjow. The cat reflexively grabbed the blood, ash and plaster covered bundle before it could hit him, but the loose ends swung forward and slapped him wetly across the face. Xander burst out laughing at the shocked and affronted look on Grimmjow's face.

"Serves you right." He snorted.

Grimmjow glared at him, but his smirk returned quickly, making Xander's heart thump in dreadful anticipation. It got worse when the feline all but purred, "You got me all dirty, now I have to take a shower."

Xander stared at him in shock as he moved towards the shower, and incidentally Xander himself, stripping his white jacket off in the process.

"What? No. You can't- You aren't- You wouldn't-" He couldn't manage to complete a thought as the blunette continued stripping and coming closer. His brain stuttered and died when the white hakama hit the floor.

"I wouldn't, would I?" Grimmjow questioned, his bare body a mere foot from Xander as he leaned forward and filled his ear with his treacherously silky voice. "It sounds like a wonderful idea to me, after all I had some convincing to do."

"Gah." Xander scrambled backwards until the white tile wall betrayed him by creeping up behind him and preventing his escape. Grimmjow just took the extra space provided and stepped into the shower, closing the curtain behind him and enclosing them both in their own private steam filled world. Xander was pretty sure he was having a heart attack and was harder than he'd ever been in his life.

Grimmjow kept advancing on his cornered prey. "You are mine, and I'm not letting you escape again." He took a final step, deep into Xander's personal space and pressed the human into the wall. Grimmjow seemed to pour himself onto Xander, molding every inch of his height onto the human, chest to panting chest, stomach to fluttery stomach and groin to very interested groin, as the hot water streamed down around them. Xander watched brilliant blue eyes darken with possession and want. He was going to say something, but his mouth was suddenly occupied doing much better things.

Grimmjow's tilted Xander's chin up and nipped at his lower lip, making him gasp and lurch forward, rubbing their bodies together and sending delicious sparks through him. The moment he opened his mouth there were lips slanted over his and a tongue tracing the inside of his cheek. Grimmjow was kissing him, and oh, fucking hell, that felt good. He angled his head a little to make something perfect that much better and pressed back, tongue flicking out against the rough wetness laving the roof of his mouth. A warm tingling started low in his stomach when he realized that even in human form Grimm had a rough feline tongue. His knees went boneless as he imagined how that tongue would feel, rasping over his skin. Especially with his super sensitive nerves.

"You are mine." Grimmjow growled against his lips. A hand snaked up under the hem of his shirt and caressed it's way across his chest, tracing his abs. With a jerk of Grimmjow's wrist, the remains of Xander's shirt were gone.

"This is mine." The hand splayed across his stomach, scorching his sensitive skin. Xander made a needy little whimpering noise when their wet chests glided together without any obstruction. That incredible hand traced across the over stimulated skin that had regrown along his side, making him shiver and pant into Grimmjow's mouth. The arrancar rumbled his satisfaction in what could only be described as a pleased purr.

Xander's hand was in Grimmjow's hair. He had no idea when that had happened, but as he tightened his grip and tugged his panther closer by his blue hair and reattached their lips, Xander decided it was the perfect place for a hand to live. Which got him thinking of the caresses on his hip and where their other hands could have gotten to. When he found his, it had crept it's way down to Grimmjow's waist and was heading south fast. It jerked up to clutch at Grimmjow's back for balance as Xander's pants suddenly went missing. Ah, that's what Grimmjow's other hand had been doing.

"This is all mine. No one else's." He shivered at the possessive words demanding his submission as warm water sluiced over him, his body bare except for his drenched boxers, which were molded to his heated skin. Grimmjow abandoned his mouth and began licking and nipping his way down Xander's neck as his hands traced the elastic hem of his boxers. Xander felt those fingers begin to slide under the elastic and his breath caught.

"Grimmjow!" And that was the exact moment when Szayel knocked impatiently on the bathroom door. He had chosen the worst possible time to finally work up his nerve.

Xander sighed and pushed at Grimmjow's chest as he ignored the Octava and continued doing things that melted Xander's insides. He reached down and grabbed Grimmjow's hands to stop him. "If he tells Aizen we were stalling.." Grimmjow growled ferally against Xander's throat, making him shiver. The growl trailed off into a pleased rumble as Grimmjow gave one long, slow rasp of his tongue up Xander's neck and behind his ear, earning a whimper. "Not fair. It's not MY fault his timing is terrible."

The rest of their shower went much faster without distractions, although there was still a lot of quick groping and Grimmjow had watched appreciatively as Xander took off his boxers. Xander wasn't even allowed to wash his own hair and body. Oh no, he'd had to endure Grimmjow's wicked hands all slippery with soap and caressing him everywhere. The cat definitely got the better end of that deal, since he hadn't allowed Xander to return the attention and he'd left the one part that really needed some love for Xander to do himself. He decided that he officially hated the color pink and cats were terrible teases. Although, it could probably be argued that this was karmic revenge for all the times he'd left Grimmjow high and dry without any satisfaction. Goddamn, karma.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

"Really, I have much more important things to do than wait on you hand and foot." Szayel complained as Xander sat himself on the metal operating table again. Szayel had brought him an extra uniform that had a similar style to Grimmjow's, meaning it left his entire chest, stomach and lower back exposed. Xander had refused to wear it, until Yllfordt had offered one of his extra jackets. It had a wide collar that tended to gape open, revealing a large bit of his chest, but at least the bottom hem covered everything else. He didn't want any weird breezes and didn't know how Grimmjow could stand it.

Maybe it was his high body temperature. Xander could testify to the incredible amount of raw heat the arrancar radiated. It made for a luxurious sleeping partner. Come to think of it, he didn't think he'd be telling anyone that little fact. They'd want his panther, and that just wasn't allowed to happen. They'd have to find their own, this one was taken.

Xander hadn't known at the time that Szayel was the one who designed the uniforms, but he'd been made aware on the long walk to the mad scientist's labs. Szayel was a flamboyant narcissist and had taken offense to being required to track them down and deliver his clothing. He felt that they should have arrived in his lab on his schedule rather than their own. Rejecting his choices was apparently the highest of offenses. It was more believable than ever that he was Yllfordt's younger brother when Xander took into account the fact that he never shut up.

He was _so_ glad that this was the arrancar in charge of figuring out what was wrong with him. He was just brimming with confidence about the whole thing. At least Grimmjow was here and could intimidate the drama queen science geek into treating him properly and not just dissecting him. The glint he caught in pinky's eyes suggested that it would have been his preferred method of investigation. Again, Xander just felt himself overflowing with confidence in this guy's abilities and sanity.

It began slowly, with Szayel's glowing hands held over his head and heart like he was some kind of faith healer. After long minutes, and several death glares when Xander decided to fidget, Szayel made a noncommittal noise of contemplation, as if he'd found something interesting and reached for what turned out to be a scanning device that beeped, chirped and whistled at Xander as it was run over his body. He had no idea if that was a good or bad sign.

The next thing that Szayel picked up was a fingerless glove. Xander stared at it in confusion as the arrancar pulled it on. "What _is_ that?"

"Hmm. Oh, I'm so glad you asked." Szayel admired the glove in a way that reminded Xander of Cordelia showing off her latest manicure. "This is a device called a Gokon Tekko. Aizen-sama had mentioned in passing that the Shinigami Research and Development Institute had created them, and I decided to make my own. It really is quite an ingenious creation, mine of course is far superior to that created in Seireitei."

"He want's to know what the fuck it does, you big pink fairy." Grimmjow growled from where he was propping up the wall and scrutinizing Szayel's every move for hints of aggression. His glare told a gruesome story about what the consequences would be if the glove was in any way harmful. His concern warmed Xander's heart. Grimmjow had started acting adorably overprotective since he'd decided Xander was his. It was more care than anyone had ever shown him and he loved every minute of it.

"It's quite simple. The glove is designed to separate a soul from it's body. It would force a shinigami out of their gigai or a plus soul out of their mortal shell. The fastest way to discover the state of his soul is to view it directly." Szayel put his glove covered palm against Xander's forehead and shoved.

For an instant Xander just saw Szayel's forearm disappearing into his head and a strange internal pressure, but then something released and there was a rushing sensation and intense sensation of vertigo. He thought for a moment he was in two places at once, but he was quickly drawn back into his body and everything stabilized. He heard the jingle of chains and a strange cold feeling inside, like something was missing and he'd been hollowed out. With a bizarre pull against his skull, Szayel slowly withdrew his hand. His eyes were focused behind Xander, wide with surprise.

There was an ominous silence while Xander waited for someone to say something. Grimmjow and Szayel just stared behind him in shock, neither moving. Grimmjow looked horrified and Szayel shifted his glasses and laughed in a way that grated on Xander's raw nerves. "Now this is interesting. I've never seen anything like it."

He finally turned to Xander, grabbing one of the human's hands and bending the fingers one at a time and pinching his palm. "How do you feel? Is there any pain? Can you sense and control your extremities?"

"A little cold, kinda freaked out." He answered honestly, obediently flexing his fingers against Szayel's hand. "What happened? Did something go wrong?"

"No, no. Nothing's wrong per se, it's just a fascinating occurrence. You recall that I told you I was going to separate your soul and your body, yes?" Xander nodded slowly, not sure if he wanted to be agreeing. "The way the glove works it leaves the body empty and motionless while the soul retains consciousness. That is obviously not what occured. Aizen-sama will have to be informed about this."

With one last lingering look behind Xander, he hurried out to find Aizen.

Xander was afraid to turn around, he felt like the victim in a horror movie. The hair on the back of his neck prickled with the knowledge that there was something terrible behind him. This was his soul they were talking about. He didn't want something to be wrong with it, with him. "Grimmjow?" He called, his voice wavering uncertainly, he didn't know what was going on. Shocked blue eyes met his and he felt his stomach drop at the horror he could see there. His morbid curiosity and years as a Scooby created a terrible and undeniable need in him to know exactly how bad things were and he turned slowly to see. "What's.."

In a flash of speed, Grimmjow was standing in front of him, between his legs and holding his face, preventing him from looking. "Don't."

Xander felt himself begin to tremble. What was wrong? Grimmjow was scaring him. To his dismay he felt tears beginning to prick at the back of his eyes. "Grimmjow?"

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

Hakama - the pleated, puffy pant things the shinigami/arrancar wear

This was my first ever smexy scene. I hope it wasn't awful. A friend of mine once said that the reason I never wrote sex was b/c I didn't have the guts, and she was probably right. It was horribly embarrassing writing this, but also an incredibly guilty pleasure. I think it turned out alright. I have a very smutty mind, I just had to figure out how to let it flow into my story.

All of your, "This is awesome PLEEZE write more" reviews have actually inspired me. Keep them coming and I may remember to write the next bit sometime soon. After all, I think this is the most evil cliffhanger I've ever written... I'm sure you're grateful.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)  
Author has given no other permissions.  
5,441 Words - 02/18/11


	7. Not All Fairy Tales End Happily

_**Reirse, Hiena!**_

Lightning_Skies

Spoilers/Disclaimer/Pairing – See first chapter

Wow, I'm on a roll. I thought briefly of moving on to update one of my other stories, but I couldn't do that to you.

Timeline Note - (I figure I may not be the only one who needs to see this written down)

~Spring 2003 (Apr) - "7.18 Dirty Girls" aired - Caleb kills Xander, he haunts the Scoobies, but sometime before the finale in May he was hollowified and escaped to Hueco Mundo

~Late Fall 2004 - Roughly 1.5 years have passed and X is resurrected

~Mid 2006 (Aug) - "Volume 23: Mala Suerte!" released in Japan - Grimmjow goes to Karakura [We are here]

They knew each other for over a year and haven't seen each other for about 2

Assuming he was 18 at graduation, X is 25 (or 24 if you want to deduct points for being dead)

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Chapter 7 - Not All Fairy Tales End Happily=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

"It's not pretty." Grimmjow admitted, staring into deep, chocolate eyes that swam with miserable apprehension, trying to soothe the fear without giving meaningless platitudes about how everything was okay and Xander was gonna be alright. It wasn't okay, and he had no fucking idea if Xander's soul was alright. He was the Sexta Espada because he killed things, and he was good at it. What he wasn't good at was all this science and bordering-on-religious shit about souls. Even without any expertise on the subject he could tell it didn't look good.

"I've probably seen worse." Xander sniffled a bit, his eyes looking huge and terrified. He blinked back his tears and smiled shakily at his worried panther. His weak attempt at reassurance didn't do much to comfort either of them.

"Idiot. This is different." Grimmjow's thumb ran over Xander's cheek, catching a tear that had managed to escape. He kept his voice low and even, only one of them could afford to panic at a time and Xander needed him to be the level-headed one right now. It was all he could do to keep his wildly roiling reiatsu restrained. He would be the calm and steady one now, but as soon as Xander was properly comforted someone was going to die for this. No one hurt his hyena this badly and just walked away from it. He would see the pain returned ten-fold plus some; it couldn't be entirely about punishment after all, he had to get in some revenge too.

"I know." Xander sighed and pressed his face into Grimmjow's chest like a child hiding from the world. The arranger wrapped his arms around his frail little human, enclosing him on all sides in a protective bubble of homicidal feline. He let his reiatsu leak out into the human, making Xander's skin heat and tingle with the power running through him like a mild electrical current. "I can't run from it though. I need to know."

"Che. Fine." Grimmjow lifted the smaller male into his arms, turning him around so he could sit on the table with Xander in his lap. He wasn't going to give up any chance at close physical contact if he could help it. Xander didn't move his face from where it was pressed into Grimmjow's chest. His eyes were screwed so tightly shut that sparkles of light were going off behind his eyelids. Grimmjow waited patiently for him to work up the courage to look, knowing that his usual rough manner was out of place here.

Finally, the human took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. He pushed away from Grimmjow's comforting embrace with determination written across his features and resolve shining in his eyes. He took strength from the rare expression of comfort on Grimmjow's face once more before his gaze was drawn to look at something he already knew he didn't want to see. His eyes caught on the glint of metal and a bright motionless lump of white and black.

Xander stared at his soul form blindly, hardly able to take it in. It was bizarre looking at himself remotely, like some strange out of body experience, which it technically was. He wasn't particularly shocked to see his soul still took the form of a hyena adjuchas, but he took the time to fully examine his animal shape for the first time. It was both incredibly familiar and the most foreign thing he had ever seen. This had been him for over a year, those were his black claw-tipped paws, his strong bone-crushing jaws, his large pointed ears and his chest with a hole drilled through it where his heart should have been. How was that possible? He had regained his emotions and heart hadn't he? Was that why he felt such a sense of disconnection with the girls and his old life? Was it just that he was incapable of caring about them anymore? He didn't think he'd been heartless or inhumane since coming back, but that might be a result of habit rather than any sense of compassion. No wonder they were worried about him if he was doing exactly what Buffy had done, just 'going through the motions.'

He shifted in Grimmjow's warm embrace and the jingling of metal brought his attention back to the chains he had been trying not to see. Here was the proof of how unnatural and cruel Willow's powers could be. There was nothing healing or good about the resurrection spell, they had known that when it ripped Buffy out of Heaven. It wasn't some beneficial charm that corrected ill-deserved fates and set the universe to right. No spell that was light and pure would have done that, and only the darkest and most corrupt black magics could have caused this. Bringing people back to life was selfish and damaging and had been widely forbidden for a reason. Simply put, it was evil.

His spiritual body was bound and hobbled in chains. They wrapped tightly around his legs and head, crushing one of his ears and preventing any sort of movement at all. There were even links looped around his muzzle and laced through his hollow hole. The restraints were so tight that cracks had formed around the edges of the sensitive void. His strong teeth had been forced to grind together so hard they had fractured and several of the plates on his neck ruff were broken or missing. The most horrible part was the sharp spear tips on the chains. His body had been pierced through by half a dozen large two-foot long poles tipped with deep barbed prongs that would do incredible damage if they were pulled out. There was one for each limb, garishly skewering through muscle and bone, another stabbed though his lower back that was guaranteed to have paralyzed him and the last was a killing blow, pierced through the top of his spine, in the soft spot right under the skull, that exited through his throat. Blood, some dried and more sluggishly oozing from the various wounds, caked the chains and dripped down the sharp edges of the spear blades.

Each of the six harpoons had a chain trailing off of the end that wrapped several times around his bound body, crisscrossing over and under each other tightly before trailing to connect to corresponding points on Xander's physical limbs and spine. He had been pinned like a butterfly and trussed up like the vulgar parody of a puppet. Blind, dead eyes, gone white and milky seemed to stare straight through him. If it were some random animal looking at him that way Xander would have said that it had a completely defeated and betrayed expression. It reminded him of cases of extreme animal cruelty that he had seen reported on the news, where the animals had been so battered, starved and abused that they had lost any trace of sanity. He froze inside at the broken look in those glazed eyes. This wasn't some random animal.

His gut twisted at the thought that this was the innermost representation of himself. This was him. This was everything Xander, distilled to its most honest form. Those were his dead, betrayed eyes. His best friend had done this to him. A choked scream bubbled up in his chest at the thought. It was abhorrent and evil. He felt nauseous and the tears were back full force. If it hadn't been magic-based this much damage would have been enough to kill him several times over and he'd been walking around with his soul in this condition for two years. Willow had been smiling at him and talking about how good it was to have him back. She had to know what her spell had done to him. How could she not know? She was always so careful with magic since Warren. Did she know how much her spell had destroyed his soul? Was the condition of his soul a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to have him back?

"No. Nonononono-" Xander cried, grabbing at the ethereal chain that trailed out of his throat and trying to wrench it out of him. He wanted it off. He wanted it gone. The cold metal seemed to scorch his fingers with it's evil. He couldn't deal with this. This couldn't be happening. He gagged in pain as his airway closed off but refused to stop pulling, even as he choked for air. His neck and lungs were on fire with pain. He doubled over in agony, fighting the suffocating pressure dragging at his neck, but ignored it as best he could and focused all of his determination on removing that cursed noose, yanking with all of his waning strength.

"Stop! Xander, stop it! You're hurting yourself!" He dimly heard Grimmjow's alarmed voice over the ringing that had overtaken his hearing as he slowly smothered himself, but he refused to listen and pulled even harder on the chain, tugging sharply on it. Jagged, choked sobs escaped him between harsh yanks and his eyes burned with the salt of the tears that streamed down his face. Powerful arms wrapped around him, but he couldn't handle any more restraints and he thrashed and fought as hard as he could. Those goddamn unyielding arms wouldn't budge any more than that forsaken shackle around his neck. Strong hands closed around his and stilled his frantic movement while a solid body behind him and chin that came down to rest in his hair prevented him from jerking his head back and straining against his bonds that way. He gasped for air as it flooded his lungs without further obstruction.

He struggled and writhed, but Grimmjow wouldn't let him go. The half heard pleas and commands twisted in his mind, combining with memories and becoming something sinister. -_Stop! Xander, stop it! I'm not letting you escape. Never again. Stay still so I can kill you. You. Are. Mine. Never forget that. You're going to die hyena, and I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart.- _The smooth, smokey voice he had loved this morning, so many ages ago, took on the cruel tones he remembered from their first meeting. What had been a comforting before, was a perversely dire promise now. He could feel himself getting light headed as he panicked and went from inhaling too little air to taking in too much. His chest tightened and his heart pounded unevenly against his ribs, trying to tear it's way out of him. Not that he had a heart.

No, he was a hollow. He just thought he had a heart. He couldn't feel anything, he had no emotions, he was a shell. His soul had been removed and was laying dead right there on the table. Dissected and impaled like a voodoo doll sent to torment him, only he was already too broken to be harmed further. He couldn't even feel the pain of his soul, he had become so disconnected from it. It was no longer a part of him. He was no longer a part of it. He was a soulless, heartless monster.

He abandoned his loose grip on the chain, barely feeling the links slip out of his fingers as his thoughts were overwhelmed with blind, mindless panic. He needed to get away. He had to run- to escape it all. He scrabbled at the arms holding him, fingers bared like claws as he strained to find purchase. His legs kicked uselessly off the edge of the table. He shoved his head backwards as hard as he could until the point of Grimmjow's chin began to hurt. He dipped his head once and thrust back suddenly, cracking his skull against the arrancar's jaw, but he still wasn't released. As he hyperventilated, a black haze around his peripheral vision tunneled his focus and Xander found himself staring into those milky, accusing eyes. His soul was mutilated and dead and his body simply hadn't fallen down yet. He was a thing. As his adrenaline rush waned, fear turned slowly into an indescribably deep grief. Without the constriction on his throat, his sobbing grew even stronger.

He hung limply in Grimmjow's arms as he cried himself sick and his defiled soul watched it all callously with cold, knowing eyes. He had felt something was wrong with him ever since he'd come back and he'd been right. He was broken beyond repair. A tattered remnant of himself, a revenant. Buffy should have slain him the moment she lay eyes on him. The shinigami should have destroyed whatever it was that remained of him. Grimmjow should have torn him apart and left him to die. Tousen's kido spell should have been stronger and burnt him away with purifying fire. But, no. That wouldn't have worked. None of it would have worked. He was an immortal thing now, unnatural to the point that he couldn't even be put down.

He didn't bother fighting when long, elegant fingers slipped over his dulled brown eyes, blocking his view of the matching sickly opaque pair. It didn't matter. He would remember those eyes for the rest of his damned existence. He could still feel that gaze skittering over his skin, judging him. Those loathsome, inescapable arms gently turned his face away and pressed him against a strong chest that smelled of leather and black pepper. He was enfolded in that warm scent and strong limbs cradled him close, like he was precious. A hand found it's way into the hair at the base his skull and nimble fingers kneaded at the tense, abused muscles as it's pair stroked down his back again and again, leaving a trail of warmth that sank into his skin and eased the trembling slightly with each pass. Xander ignored it all.

It was just too much. He didn't know who or what he was anymore. He didn't know if he was living or dead or something else entirely. He should be dead. He shouldn't have been brought back. He should be alive. He shouldn't have died in the first place. He shouldn't have lost his heart and become a menos. He should have continued to evolve at Grimmjow's side, just the two of them against the world. He wasn't a hollow. He wasn't a human. He definitely wasn't a shinigami. He knew list upon list of things that he wasn't, but what did that leave him with. Was he even Xander anymore? Spike used to talk about waking up that first time as a demon. He hadn't been William anymore, but he had all the memories and feelings that William left when his soul moved on. Maybe Xander was like that. He was a demon that had taken over for the real Xander. But Xander's soul hadn't moved on, it was right there on the table. Maybe he was the monster that had absorbed Xander's soul. He let his whirl of negative thoughts overwhelm him and the world faded away, hidden behind a grey veil of heavy fog. If he didn't care, if he didn't interact, then he couldn't hurt anymore.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

It felt like an eternity that Xander stared blankly at his abused soul with an alarmingly clear expression. Grimmjow couldn't tell what he was thinking, but his face was totally devoid of any emotion, which was a fairly terrifying sight on someone who was usually as open and honest with his emotions as Xander was. He shifted in the Sexta's lap and it was surprisingly easy to ignore an action that would have shot his thoughts straight into the gutter just this morning. The tone of the situation didn't even allow the unapologetically lewd arrancar to entertain the thought of sex. Not when the mutilated body that represented the true face of his hyena was laying right there staring at them accusingly. It was a bit of a mood killer.

Grimmjow wanted to drop this false human body and go rip the chains off of his hyena, but he knew it wouldn't work. Something was holding Xander into his human form, so for now the adjuchas body was the fake and Xander was stuck in a mortal shell. Grimmjow had never heard of any demon arts that were capable of this. From what he knew, shinigami's bakudo could take the form of pillars or chains, but they were all non-invasive, temporary bindings made of light and reiatsu. These were physical chains that had been in place for years and damaged the soul quite brutally. The only spirit he could think of that would be cruel and powerful enough to cause this was Aizen, but he knew that the ex-shinigami didn't have anything to do with it. The Lord of Las Noches may have been building his arrancar army in Hueco Mundo at the time that Xander had been attacked, but he was too curious about it to have been the one to cast the spell in the first place.

"No. Nonononono-" Grimmjow was brought out of his thoughts when Xander spoke suddenly. He broke his staring contest with the dead adjuchas and looked down to see that the brunette had streams of tears running down his face and an unfocused look in his eyes as they darted around shakily. He looked like a cornered animal. Xander's hands tore at the chain that emerged from the soft, muscular depression between his collarbones. Blunt human fingernails raked across his neck and chest, drawing long jagged lines of blood. When his hands finally caught blindly on the chain, Grimmjow's eyes widened as Xander hauled on it with all of his strength, causing a phantom noose to tighten around his neck. The panther watched horrified as a thick line around the delicate throat depressed under the crushing weight of an invisible choke-collar. The punishing force Xander was exerting on himself pulled his head down and cut off his breathing, but the frantic man just pulled harder, his bloody hands slipping a little on the slick metal.

"Stop! Xander, stop it! You're hurting yourself!" Xander couldn't seem to hear Grimmjow and he tugged harshly on the chain almost rhythmically, choking down air in between heaves. Grimmjow couldn't just sit by and watch him break down and hurt himself like this. He wrapped his arms tightly around his human, trying to comfort him and stop his self-damaging actions. It didn't seem to help, he could hear Xander's heart rate speeding up in panic. He put his hands over Xander's to still the frantic pulling and rested his chin on the crown of Xander's head. He allowed his reiatsu to sweep through the struggling man, hoping to shock him out of it and help regain some sense of calm. The brunette didn't react or even seem to be aware of where he was as he thrashed mindlessly.

He scrabbled at Grimmjow's arms, clawing at him even though he had no chance of breaking through the arrancar's hierro. His body shook as his elbows battered uselessly against Grimmjow's chest and his hips jerked with the force of his kicking. His back arched as he tried to force his head back, but Grimmjow stayed firm, holding them both steady. He didn't even flinch as Xander attempted to break his skull on Grimmjow's chin. He was too worried that the human might have hurt himself. Luckily, Xander seemed to be calming, his struggling became more and more feeble and finally the human relaxed into his hold. It wasn't the comfortable relaxation of that morning however, it was the lax, sagging posture of someone who had lost all will to continue fighting. Grimmjow had seen it before in his opponents, the moment when his prey realized that nothing they did mattered, that their life was already forfeit and it was up to him to decide when to end it all. The hope just drained out of them, killing them more surely than his claws or blade ever did.

Even without the obstruction on his throat, Xander's breathing was harsh and uneven. Tears flooded his face as he sobbed wildly, the pain and hopelessness radiating off of him and pulsing through his dismal reiatsu was almost palpable. Grimmjow let him vent, unsure how to fix things for Xander when they seemed so impossibly broken. Eventually, the heart-wrenching sobs died down and Xander began shivering, staring blankly at his damaged soul with a shattered expression in his eyes. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the remains of his once vibrant soul. Grimmjow knew that continuing to obsess over the evidence of what had been done to him wasn't healthy, not when he was this close to breaking totally, so he slipped a hand over Xander's eyes, breaking the unnerving stare.

Grimmjow gently manipulated Xander's unresisting form, turning the tearstained face away and nestling the dark head against his shoulder. He carefully wiped away the tears and brushed long floppy bangs away from Xander's expressionless face. Grimmjow shivered as he looked down into that empty doll's face with flat eyes that hardly resembled the bright, active man he had sworn to protect. He had promised that nothing would take Xander away from him again, but none of his strength could help him now, because there was nothing to fight. He felt like he was losing Xander all over again, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He sighed and stroked Xander's hair, his hand trailing down to the brunette's abused neck. The memory of the invisible bindings digging into the flesh of the fragile column made Grimmjow's hand grip reflexively as he twitched for his sword. A low groan right under his ear and Xander shifting to press back into his hand made him realize that he had clamped down on Xander's nape. It was the only thing he had done so far that Xander had reacted positively to. He massaged at the tense and abused muscles, wondering at the fact that he could not feel the chain at all as he ran his hand over the back of Xander's neck. He didn't want to get the human worked up again, so he left the visible part of the chain alone.

Glancing at the bound hyena adjuchas on the other table, he noted that the placement of the chains roughly matched up on both bodies. He ran his free hand comfortingly down Xander's back to see if he could feel the other chain, the one that connected to his lower back. He ran his hand back and forth over the spot, but couldn't feel anything unusual. He did notice that Xander's shivering eased more the longer he stroked his back, so he abandoned his investigation and just held his precious hyena, running his hand soothingly down his back.

"How are you still alive? How did this not destroy you?" Grimmjow questioned and was concerned but not particularly surprised when Xander didn't respond at all. It was like he didn't even know Grimmjow was still there. He blew out a frustrated breath and continued sending as much calming energy as he could tame from the mass of his wild reiatsu.

"That is a wonderful question." Aizen spoke up from behind the pair as he moved to examine the mangled soul form splayed limply across Szayel's workbench, flanked by Gin and the Octava. Grimmjow tensed immediately. He had been so wrapped up in Xander that he hadn't even noticed their approach. Aizen's measuring gaze flickered quickly over the bound adjuchas level menos and the catatonic human. "Szayel, you mentioned the fact that his consciousness remained in his body?"

Szayel adjusted his glasses and peered into Xander's desolate eyes. He snapped his fingers just inches from the brunette's face and snorted in distain at the lack of focus. "He was fine when I left them, my lord. Perhaps his mind was too weak to maintain sanity after seeing his soul in this separated state. It happens all too often with my test subjects that their mental fortitude cannot always keep up with their physical endurance. Humans are notoriously pathetic when it comes to their emotions. It is a weakness we hollows do not share."

"Fuck off!" Grimmjow growled deep in his throat, and snarled at the callous scientist. "I'd like to see you survive this and not be traumatized. He's stronger than you'll ever be, and it's his emotions that give him power."

"Grimmjow calm yourself." Aizen admonished absently as he continued, "It would be quite a pity if he were to be permanently incapacitated. I am sure that the Octava will do whatever he can to see that the human recovers." Aizen commented with his usual blandness. "Szayel, Tell me more about your tests and observations."

"As you can see, it's a very fascinating phenomena." Szayel was positively giddy with glee over the unusual specimen he had the pleasure of uncovering. It was so rare that a human could surprise or intrigue him, he had thought that he had dismantled all of their secrets. "His soul is firmly attached, but remains in a menos state and his consciousness remained with his flesh rather than his spirit. It must be the result of a highly sophisticated spell-working process and explains his lack of reiatsu."

Aizen seemed more interested in the facts than Szayel's enthusiasm, but Grimmjow could see a dangerous glint in the ex-shinigami's eyes. "How exactly does this state explain how he can appear to be an adjuchas and yet possesses little to no reiatsu?"

"If you would be so kind as to cut one of the chains, Aizen-sama. I believe it will become self-evident." Szayel waved a hand at the helpless soul-form expectantly and stepped back for Aizen to approach.

Aizen unsheathed his zanpakuto, making Grimmjow flinch back, but there was nothing he could do as Gin stepped forward to stretch one of the chains in place on the table. Smoothly reversing his grip on his sword, Aizen stabbed Kyoka Suigetsu down between two links, shattering them cleanly. The remaining links hanging between Xander's left hand and the break-point dissolved and for a moment Grimmjow began to hope, but then the spear through the hyena soul's left forepaw began to glow and Xander threw his head back and screamed. His body went rigid in agony as the glow spread link by link down the remains of the chain and they began shifting, pulling impossibly tighter and dragging the barbed spear points back to bury themselves deep in the flesh of his paw. The abused limb was wrenched up to where the chains threaded their way through his hollow hole. When the paw caught on the too-small hole and couldn't move any farther, the pulling barbs strained against it, digging the points ever deeper through layers of hierro and muscle, until they bit deep into bone and caught fast.

The glowing links continued to pull, grinding against the sensitive edges of the hollow hole and crushing his jaws even tighter as the abused soul form reflexively choked up blood that could only seep through the broken clenched teeth. With a rattle the chains shifted and slid down his skull to run directly across one sightless eye, looping around his neck tighter than a noose and the glow reached towards the leading end in Gin's grasp where it wiggled and pulled, making the pale man frown and release it. The moment it was free the sickly glowing chain shot toward Xander and wrapped itself around his wrist, sinking into his skin. His screaming cut out abruptly to harsh panting as he lay bonelessly against Grimmjow's chest, completely sapped of energy and trembling with aftershocks of pain. There was a brief flare of brutal awareness in Xander's eyes, but as the chain settled it faded away again.

"As you can see, the chains are not part of the spell. They are the result of the spell." Szayel spoke excitedly, wrapped up in the excitement over this fascinating spiritual manipulation. "The chains are made out of his own reiatsu and compressed into the form you can see here. Destroying them damages the soul further. It is ingenious really. There is no way to remove the chains without destroying the soul in the process. His weak power levels are the direct result of his accelerated healing. The human body is not designed to be capable of such progressive regeneration. It is programed to shut down at a certain level of cell division, which is evidenced in the breakdown of old age. His reiatsu is being fed into his body to fuel the regeneration, but due to the fact that his soul is a hollow, rather than a plus soul, it subsists on spirit particles absorbed through devouring other hollows. While restrained within a human body, he has been starved and repeatedly drained of his reiatsu to heal his physical body without being able to replenish his spiritual power. At this rate, barring any serious injury, maintaining the homeostasis of his body will empty his soul of all traces of reiatsu in a matter of months at which point it will dissipate. Without the soul to power it, the human shell will decompose as any other deceased body."

Gin spoke up, cutting through any continued scientific babble Szayel may have come up with. "So, his body is feeden' on his soul and his soul is feeden' on his body and they're both runnen' out of energy."

"Can't you fix it?" Grimmjow demanded. "What's the use of all your goddamn experimenting if you can't even figure this shit out?"

"I have figured it out and I explained it all quite simply, Jeagerjaques. It isn't my fault if you are too simple to understand." Szayel retorted, his glasses glinting angrily. "The chains are a part of him, and removing them would only kill him faster."

"And you went ahead and had Aizen break one? You fucking fairy bastard!" Grimmjow snarled, but refused to let go of Xander while he was in such a delicate state. He would kill the pink bastard later, and as slowly as possible… with chains.

Aizen ran a hand down the hyena's shoulder thoughtfully, his hand barely fitting between loops of the chain. Grimmjow wanted to rip his arms off for touching something that wasn't his. "I would like you to be working on solutions, Szayel. If he has several months left before his reserves fail, then there is no reason my best scientist cannot come up with a plan for a more positive result before that happens." He pinned Szayel with an even look, but backed it up with an overwhelming flare of oppressive reiatsu.

"Y-Yes, Aizen-sama."

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

When they returned to the Grimmjow's rooms, Yllfordt opened his mouth to ask how everything had gone, but gaped soundlessly at the listless, blank looking Xander that had replaced their overactive and irrepressible hyena. Edorado elbowed him quickly in the ribs when Grimmjow followed, his malevolently pulsing reiatsu positively radiating frustration and anger. Yllfordt snapped his mouth shut just in time to cower under a murderous glare the Sexta aimed his way, daring him to say anything.

Xander walked straight past the shocked Fraccion, neatly sidestepping Shawlong, who happened to be standing in the middle of the room, without ever making eye contact. He ignored them all totally and made his way to Grimmjow's bedroom, where they could see him curl up silently on the sheetless bed with his back toward the open door. Grimmjow himself wasn't so lucky. Three pairs of questioning eyes pinned him in place and demanded answers.

Their silent demands wore out the last bit of Grimmjow's carefully constructed calm. With a roar he punched a sizable hole through the wall and hurled a cero at the nearest couch, which was hastily vacated by Edorado before he was immolated along with it. The cero blasted a large chunk of the floor away as well and powdered furniture and flooring billowed around like smoke.

"He's dying!" Grimmjow snarled kicking another couch through the wall. It exploded in a shower of splinters, shreds of cloth and stuffing. "He's stuck in his human body and it's fucking KILLING HIM!"

He began charging his signature Grand Rey Cero and whirled to throw it, but released the energy in a random burst of destruction around him as he realized he'd almost shot it toward's his bedroom. The formless energy went off like a grenade, taking out every remaining piece of furniture and cracking the still standing walls. Yllfordt was thrown through the hole Grimmjow had punched next to the door and hit the opposite wall of the corridor outside, crunching deep into the plaster. Edorado was scorched by the power and slid back about a yard, but managed to stay on his feet and Shawlong carefully set off a precisely measured counter cero that protected him from most of the blast.

None of them dared to comment as Grimmjow stomped towards his bedroom and slammed the door, growling ferally the entire time.

"As bad as he was about loosing Xander by not being there to protect him, I imagine it will be exponentially worse if he looses him again because he cannot protect him." Shawlong mused, staring at the abused door the Sexta had disappeared behind. "If we were incredibly lucky we might survive it, but I doubt Grimmjow-sama would."

"He doesn't deal very well with the emotions the kid brings up." Edorado agreed.

-/-/-/-\-\-\-

Grimmjow forcefully calmed himself. He couldn't take out his anger and frustration on Xander. The brunette wouldn't be able to handle it, not in the state he was in now. When he felt that he had a hold on his raging temper he carefully crawled into bed behind his human and gently gathered him into his arms, curling them together in the same position that had made everything seem perfect this morning. It was amazing how much things could change in the course of one day. The instant Grimmjow felt that things were finally going his way everything was torn from him yet again and he was powerless to stop it all from happening all over again.

He knew Xander wasn't asleep, but he didn't try to force a conversation. He wouldn't have known what to say. So, he offered what physical comfort he could and waited for Xander to come to him. His patience was rewarded when Xander slowly wiggled his way backwards a few inches to press his back firmly against Grimmjow's chest and intertwined their feet. He began purring low in his chest, knowing the vibrations and sound had soothed Xander before and gently wrapped the human in his arms and reiatsu again. He was unsurprised to smell salt on the air, he could feel Xander's shoulders shaking with the effort to restrain the sobs.

He purred louder and bent his head to lave long soothing licks with his rough tongue against the back of Xander's neck, right where his fingers had worked their magic earlier. When the scent of salt finally faded, he buried his face in Xander's hair and inhaled slowly, savoring the scent. He was almost asleep when Xander finally spoke.

"So this is like the ultimate good news, bad news scenario. Good news, I can't die. Bad news, instead I'm going to fizzle out of existence. That's not too bad, I can handle this." Xander's dazed and childish tone belied his words. He wanted reassurances that Grimmjow couldn't give. He couldn't handle this, and no one could blame him for that. Hollows that were purified and shinigami who died were all recycled back into the cycle of reincarnation, loosing their memories and becoming plus souls once again. Xander never would be. His soul would be torn apart into formless energy that would dissipate into nothingness.

As he stared with tear blurred eyes at the far wall, Xander decided that his fate was almost poetic in it's cruelty. It was just like the original story of the little mermaid, back when fairy tales didn't always end with happily ever after. His body was twisted by a witch's black magic so that he could shed his animal features and walk among the unsuspecting human population, but in return, upon the coming of the dawn he would dissolve into sea foam and be blown away by the ocean winds.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= TBC =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A/N:

-Sniffs- I've known this was coming since I started writing this fic, but still. -Cries-  
I think I may be developing a Xander-Whump fetish… just sayin'… there may be some indicators  
Also, I think this might be the last of the quick updates. I hope you liked them.

Fun fact - I googled wine scents for suggestions on what Xander and Grimmjow might smell like. Here's my free-association ideas for why I used each scent -

X - Lime - Zippy, zesty, fresh and in your face, citrus just kinda does it's own thing  
Sun-warmed Grass - Warm, down to earth, uncomplicated, modest and natural, I think of it as a comforting/happy scent

G - Leather - Often associated with bad-boys, strong, warm, durable, sexy  
Black pepper - Sharp, distinct, unforgiving, can be overwhelming, you can always tell when it's there (in a taste/scent), can make people sneeze (just like cats) I wasn't sure I could use pepper and still say Grimmjow smelled good, but I did some test sniffing of my pepper grinder and I really like the smell of pepper, besides people describe characters as smelling salty all the time. Pepper needs some love too.

Distribution: FFN (Lightning_Skies), Twisting the Hellmouth (LightningSkies)  
Author has given no other permissions.  
6,090 Words - 02/20/11


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